HP and the Students of the School of the Sphinx
by Angelina Johnson
Summary: CHAPTER 19 22705 Harry is entering his sixth year at Hogwarts, and things have changed. There are many suprises in store for Harry as he returns to a world filled with terror. Book 5 Spoilers
1. Dreams of the Department

Title: Harry Potter and the Students of the School of the Sphinx (01/?)  
  
Author name: Angelina Johnson  
  
Author email: bravesbabe10129@yahoo.com  
  
Category: General  
  
Sub Category: Action/Adventure  
  
Keywords: 6th Year Sirius Black  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Spoilers: SS/PS, CoS, PoA, GoF, OoTP  
  
Summary: Harry Potter is 16 years old and entering his 6th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. However, the world that Harry is returning to is different from what it has been in the past. The wizard world is filled with terror, and things are changing, some for the better, but most for the worse. Harry, Ron, and Hermione learn that they truly must come together in order to stop Voldemort, but this is made difficult for them by students from the School of the Sphinx, an Egyptian School of Magic that was destroyed by Voldemort. Will Harry and his friends be able to come together to stop Voldemort from possessing one of them and fulfilling an ancient prophecy about the heirs of Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw?  
  
DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Harry Potter and the Students of the School of the Sphinx (1/?)   
  
By Angelina Johnson   
  
Chapter 1   
  
Dreams of the Department   
  
All throughout number 4, Privet Drive, the sounds of very loud snores could be heard. In fact, the only bedroom that did not contain the sounds of snoring was the bedroom that contained a small, skinny sixteen year old boy. This boy had black hair and bright green eyes, and across his forehead was a scar in the shape of a lightning bolt. It was because of this scar that the boy was not sound asleep and snoring like the rest of the residents of the house. It was because of this scar, or rather, because of the person who had caused it, that the boy called Harry Potter had no father, no mother, and now, to top off the list, no godfather. It was because of this man that Harry was haunted nightly by visions of murder-the murder of his mum, the murder of a boy named Cedric Diggory, the murder of his godfather, and the murder of so many more.   
  
Tonight Harry had been haunted again by a nightmare from the Department of Mysteries. It had been a little over a month ago, but still the image was in his mind as if it had been just yesterday. Harry could see himself and his friends enter the Department of Mysteries because Harry had seen a vision of Lord Voldemort there, torturing his, Harry's, godfather, Sirius Black. Harry, thinking that the vision was real, had gone to the Department of Mysteries with Neville Longbottom, Hermione Granger, Ron and Ginny Weasley, and Luna Lovegood. They had gone to the spot where Harry had seen visions of Sirius, but instead of finding Sirius, they had instead found a large group of Voldemort's Death Eaters. Harry and his friends had narrowly escaped death that night, but unfortunately, not everyone had escaped safe. Harry still remembered vividly when Sirius, Remus Lupin, Tonks, Kingsley and Mad-eye Moody had arrived to help Harry and the others. Harry remembered the battle that had ensued between the members of the Order of the Phoenix and the Death Eaters. He remembered Sirius dueling with his cousin Bellatrix Lestrange. He remembered her first spell missing him. He had taunted her, but then the second spell had hit him dead on......... Harry remembered watching Sirius fall backwards into the black veil........... It had all happened so fast, but Harry saw it as though it were in slow motion.   
  
Harry tried to rub the sleep from his eyes-he didn't want to go back to sleep, didn't want to have any more haunting visions, any more nightmares-and he found that tears had formed in his eyes. This was not unusual, he often found that his eyes welled up when he thought of Sirius. There were so many emotions inside of Harry-he was angry and hurt and upset and bitter all at once. He was in such a rage-he wanted to destroy everything around him. All Harry ever wanted anymore was to be alone-and this was not hard for him, as the Dursleys would prefer to pretend that he didn't exist. Thick as they were, though, Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and Dudley had all noticed that there was something that had been upsetting Harry all during the summer holidays. Aunt Petunia, much to Harry's horror, had actually attempted to talk to Harry about what was bothering him. Harry had angrily told her that she would not understand and that she should just leave him alone the same way that she had since he had been left on her doorstep fifteen years ago. Aunt Petunia appeared to have expected this sort of reaction, because she had told him that if he changed his mind and decided that he did want to talk, she would be there. Harry did not understand what had happened to make his aunt actually seem to be human, but he was reluctant to find out.   
  
Harry had received owls from his friends. Hermione, Ron, and even Ginny had written to him, but all of them had tried to discuss Sirius, and his feelings. Harry had been infuriated by this, because none of them seemed to understand what he was going through. After all, none of them had lost their parents to Voldemort as a baby. None of them had lost the closest thing to apparent that they had ever really had to him. None of them had witnessed Sirius's death, or Cedric Diggory's. None of them had witnessed Voldemort's return. And none of them had it hanging over their head that all of this was their fault. It was Harry's fault that Sirius had died. If he had just taken the Occlumency classes from Snape, then Voldemort never would have been able to send him the false image from inside of the Department of Mysteries. Harry and the others would have never gone there, and Sirius would have never had to come and save them from Voldemort and the Death Eaters. It was Harry's fault that Sirius had died, and he hated himself for it.   
  
Upon getting the letters from his friends, he had burned them all. He also refused to write any of them back. For once in his life, Harry was not looking forward to going back to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry on September 1st. Harry actually had no interest in returning to the wizarding world at all. He didn't want to lead any more people that he cared about into danger, and danger seemed to follow Harry everywhere. In fact, the night of Sirius's death, Harry had learned that he was the one who ultimately had the power to destroy Voldemort altogether, and only he had that power. There was a prophecy that said that only one of the two could live-and Harry's greatest fear was that the one to survive would be Voldemort. He had already let so much damage happen already-if he didn't succeed in destroying Voldemort, then he would leave the wizarding world in total peril.   
  
Harry shook his head. More emotion was building up inside of him-he had tried to keep himself empty and blank. He didn't want any of this anymore-he was sick of all the pain, sick of all the fear, sick of life. He didn't understand anything anymore-and the thing he understood the least was himself. Sometimes he was sad and miserable, other times he was angry and bitter. Sometimes he felt like he couldn't wait to go back to Hogwarts and the wizarding world, other times he wished to never go back. Sometimes he wanted to talk about what he was going through, and sometimes he wanted nothing more than to be alone. Right now, however, he wanted to talk to someone. Too bad there was no one here to talk to. He lay back down, not intending to go back to sleep, and he tossed and turned, still wanting to talk to someone face to face. Somehow, he drifted back to sleep..........   
  
He was back inside the Department of Mysteries, back inside the Chamber of Death. There was the black veil-and there was Sirius. Harry watched as a jet of red light hit him, and Sirius fell slowly toward the veil. Harry heard a scream-his own. He woke, panting. He sat up just as the door to his room was flung open.   
  
"What on earth are you screaming about! You'll wake the whole house! How Vernon and Dudley sleep through this I can't understand!" Aunt Petunia shrieked. Harry looked up at the figure of his aunt in the doorway. He had never been happier to see her in his entire life. She had wanted to talk about it-maybe she could understand, or at least try to. Maybe she would understand what he was going through. She was, after all, his family, no matter how much she fought it at times.   
  
"Aunt Petunia? I want to talk to you about........ Well, about these nightmares that I've been having." Aunt Petunia's angry expression softened when she saw the look on her nephew's face. He looked haunted and frightened, and she felt the thing that she had rarely felt-the bond between herself and this boy, the son of her sister. She didn't say anything to this, she merely nodded. She closed the door behind her, and then she sat on Harry's bed.   
  
"Well, then, what's wrong?" she said, turning to him, "What's been happening?"   
  
Harry sat, and he explained to his aunt the events of the past five years. She didn't say anything, she only listened to what Harry had to say, starting from the Sorting Hat wanting to put him in the house that turned out all of the dark wizards and witches, Slytherin House, and ending with the prophecy and Dumbledore's speech to him. Though she never voiced what she thought of these things, it was apparent that when Harry told her about Sirius's death, she was shocked. Harry didn't leave out any of the details-he told her everything that there was to know, about how it was his own fault, about how Harry now had no one left. Finally, once Harry was done speaking, an hour later, Aunt Petunia had tears in her eyes.   
  
"Listen, Harry........." she began.   
  
"Yes?" Harry said, looking at his aunt.   
  
"Look, I know that I've never exactly been very nice to you, and I haven't given you any reason to believe that I care about you these last fifteen years, but you are my family, and I do care, whether you know it or not. I never realized what you have been going through, and though I can't take away any of your pain and grief, you need to realize that it is not your fault. You did what you thought was best, and........... Well, Harry, people make mistakes. You seem to make less than most people do, judging by all of the things that you've done, so it was bound to happen sometime. I think that your godfather would rather have gone out fighting than to have to sit around and wait. I can tell by what you said that he was unhappy inside of the hiding place, and now he's in a better one. He's where he belongs-he's where your parents are. He's back with his best friends, and you still have so many people left that care about you. He would want you to let go and move on. It was his time to go, and you need to understand that. All things happen for a reason, Harry," Aunt Petunia said. Harry stared at her in shock.   
  
"How can you know all of that just by what I've told you?" he asked incredulously.   
  
"Well, to be honest, I met Sirius Black- a long time ago. He was always eager to be out there, doing something, helping someone, fighting evil. He was............" she said. But what he was Harry would not find out, at least not tonight, because there was a loud popping noise, and suddenly there were four wizards and witches in his bedroom.   
  
"What are you doing here?" Aunt Petunia and Harry asked at the same time. Aunt Petunia sounded angry, but Harry was more in shock. Inside of his bedroom were Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Minerva McGonagall, and Alastor "Mad-eye" Moody.   
  
"Harry, what are these people doing in my house?" she asked, sounding enraged.   
  
"I..... I don't know," he stuttered stupidly.   
  
"We're here to take you away," Lupin said.   
  
"Take me away? But Dumbledore said that I needed to be here-that I would be protected, and that................" Harry began.   
  
"Things have changed," McGonagall said, looking at Harry. Her face was set in a straight line as it always was, but he could have sworn that there was a twinkle in her eyes, as if there was good news that she wasn't going to tell him. Harry shook off this feeling-there was never any good news anymore, because there was nothing good left in the world now that Sirius was gone.   
  
"But.......... Where are you taking me?" he asked.   
  
"Headquarters," Tonks replied cheerily. Harry stared at her in horror. How could she be cheery when just a month ago her cousin Sirius had died?   
  
"No! I won't go back, I can't be there, I can't be around those.......... I can't! I won't! You can't take me back to Grimmauld Place," he said, completely set. He would not go back to Sirius's house. There were too many memories.   
  
"Things have changed. You need to come," Moody said.   
  
"You keep saying that. Things have changed, things have changed, but nothing can bring Sirius back from the dead and I won't go back to the house where he lived. There's too many things to remind me of him, and I'm sick of all the pain! I'm sick of having nightmares about his death, I'm sick of knowing that it's my fault that he's gone, I'm sick of feeling! I WON'T GO!" Harry said.   
  
"You will go, and things have changed. I can't explain it here-not around Muggles. You are safe from harm here, but that doesn't mean that you can't be watched and overheard. You have to know what is happened- I dare say you will want to know what is going on. You must come, Harry! You can't understand yet, but once you are there you will know everything and you will be glad that you are there," McGonagall said.   
  
"HOW CAN I BE GLAD ABOUT ANYTHING WHEN MY GODFATHER IS DEAD?" Harry roared, and he swore that Lupin smiled.   
  
"Please, Harry, just come," Lupin said persuasively. He looked at Harry pleadingly. Harry was horrified. Why were they all smiling, why were they all happy? He doubted that he would ever be happy again, but if they said that what they had to tell him at Grimmauld Place would make him happy.......... Well, maybe it was worth as try.   
  
"All right, but if I want to come back after you tell me what is going on, you have to let me. I won't stay locked up there," he said. To his shock, none of the four argued with him.   
  
"Of course. That will be arranged. If you wish to leave once you understand, then you may," said Tonks, and under her breath she muttered, "But I doubt you'll want to." Harry glared at her, but then he turned to his aunt.   
  
"I guess I'm leaving, then," he said.   
  
"G'bye, then. I suppose we should keep in touch this time," she said, looking downward.   
  
"Sounds good, then. I may be back," he said, and then he scooped up his things. He handed them to Lupin and Moody, and then they led him downstairs.   
  
"Traveling by Floo Powder- I had them hook up your house to the network. Weasley suggested it," Mad-eye said, and he took out a bag that contained a powdery substance that could only be Floo Powder. Moody lit a fire, and then he took a pinch of the powder and said "12 Grimmauld Place." Tonks followed suite, and then Lupin motioned for Harry to go. Harry was about to step into the fire when McGonagall spoke.   
  
"Before you go, Potter, I want you to be prepared. What is on the other side will come as quite a shock to you," she said. Harry stared up at her.   
  
"Why are you taking me back to Grimmauld Place? And what in the world am I supposed to be prepared for?" he asked.   
  
"I've already told you that we can't explain here, Harry. Just know that nothing is as it seemed," she replied.   
  
"I know that you don't want to go back, but you need to, and you need to just be open-minded. I am sure that all of this is very strange, and you will be just as shocked as any of it. Something has happened that we never could have predicted, and, well............" Lupin's voice trailed off.   
  
"What is it? What's changed? I have a right to know what on earth is going on," Harry said, "I don't want to go back to Grimmauld Place not understanding." He was starting to get angry again. None of this was making any sense.   
  
"I'm sorry, Harry. I know you're confused. You don't have to wait much longer. Just step into the fire, now. It's time to go," Lupin said.   
  
Harry did as he was told and stepped into the fire. He shouted, "Number 12, Grimmauld Place," and there was a feeling of dread mixed with anticipation as he twirled around in the fire. It seemed as though the journey lasted for a long time, but then, suddenly, he was on the cold hard floor at 12 Grimmauld Place. He looked up-and what he saw he couldn't believe. It wasn't possible-it couldn't be.......... He was seeing things, he had to be seeing things............ There was no way.....   
  
At the table in the kitchen sat two people. One was a woman that Harry had never seen before, with long brown hair and bright blue eyes. She was very pretty, and there was a friendly smile on her face. And the second..............   
  
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	2. Dumbledore's Mistake

Title: Harry Potter and the Students of the School of the Sphinx (02/?)  
  
Author name: Angelina Johnson  
  
Author email: bravesbabe10129@yahoo.com  
  
Category: General  
  
Sub Category: Action/Adventure  
  
Keywords: Sirius Black 6th Year  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Spoilers: SS/PS, CoS, PoA, GoF, FB, QTTA, OoTP  
  
Summary: Harry Potter is 16 years old and entering his 6th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. However, the world that Harry is returning to is different from what it has been in the past. The wizard world is filled with terror, and things are changing, some for the better, but most for the worse. Harry, Ron, and Hermione learn that they truly must come together in order to stop Voldemort, but this is made difficult for them by students from the School of the Sphinx, an Egyptian School of Magic that was destroyed by Voldemort. Will Harry and his friends be able to come together to stop Voldemort from possessing one of them and fulfilling an ancient prophecy about the heirs of Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw?  
  
DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. I own Melissa Gumtree.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Harry Potter and the Students of the School of the Sphinx   
  
By Angelina Johnson   
  
Chapter 2   
  
Dumbledore's Mistake   
  
Harry could hardly believe his eyes. He had to be wrong. It was impossible. There was no way. He was seeing things, it was all a figment of his imagination. He was seeing this because it was what he wanted to see, even though he knew that it could not possibly be real. Yet the man sitting at the table looked so real.   
  
"Hello, Harry," Sirius said.   
  
"But... But you're dead," Harry said bluntly.   
  
"That's what we thought, too," Lupin said, looking down at Harry with a small smile.   
  
"We told you things had changed, Harry," Tonks said.   
  
"But I saw you die! I saw you get hit with Bellatrix's spell and fall into that veil! I saw it! They all told me that you were dead," Harry protested.   
  
"They told you wrong, and you didn't see what you thought you saw," Sirius said.   
  
"But that's impossible! I watched you vanish! You must be a figment of my imagination, because you can't possibly be alive," Harry said, but his hopes were soaring. Sirius, alive? Did he dare believe it? It made no sense to him, no sense at all.   
  
"You watched me vanish, but I didn't vanish in the way that you thought I did." Sirius seemed oddly calm.   
  
"But how could you have not gone through the veil? There was no other way for you to go-we would have seen you! And besides, wouldn't you have come back before now? And wouldn't someone have known that you were alive? Wouldn't someone-Dumbledore, for instance-tell me?"   
  
"Not if he didn't know. Not if he couldn't be contacted," Sirius said.   
  
"But why couldn't he have been contacted? And you're still not explaining how you could have just disappeared without us seeing," Harry said.   
  
"I'm afraid that's my doing," said the woman at the table.   
  
"But there still is no logical explanation!" he fumed at the stranger.   
  
"Yes, there is, if you'll only listen," Sirius said.   
  
"But how? How can you still be alive?" Harry asked.   
  
"Well, it all starts with Melissa," Sirius began, but Harry interrupted.   
  
"With who?" he asked.   
  
"Me," said the woman, "it all starts with me."   
  
"All right, then. Start," Harry said.   
  
"Well, I work at the Department of Mysteries, and I'm an Auror," she said.   
  
"How can you do both?" Harry interrupted again.   
  
"It can be arranged, if you wish to do both badly enough. That's not really important, though. Now, where was I? Oh yes. I work for the Department of Mysteries and I work as an Auror, but my connections as an Auror have allowed me to keep up to date in the whereabouts of Voldemort. You see, I was talking to Kingsley, and he let it slip to me that Albus had reinstated that Order of Phoenix. At first I was angry that Dumbledore hadn't spoken to me about it, after all, I was in the Order the first time around, but then Kingsley reminded me that the Ministry had been keeping a very close watch on me ever since Sirius broke out of Azkaban. He reminded me that I have been followed for the last three years, because the Ministry is convinced that I had some idea of where Sirius was the whole time. Well, anyways, once I had given up hope of being helpful at all to the Order, Arthur Weasley told me that perhaps there was something I could do. He told me that there was a prophecy inside of the Department of Mysteries that Voldemort was desperate to get his hands on, and he said that Dumbledore had a feeling that Voldemort was going to try and lure you there. He told me all about how you could see what Voldemort was doing, and how you had seen the attack on him. Arthur explained to me that Snape had discontinued your Occlumency lessons with him, and that he feared that Voldemort was going to be able to penetrate into your mind and send you a false image that would lure you there. I knew, of course, what had happened to members of the Order that worked in the Department of Mysteries, and Arthur warned me not to try and get near the prophecy, just to keep watch without being noticed. He wanted me around to be a sort of security blanket. So you see, I was there the night that you came. I was there when the Death Eaters were attacking you, when the prophecy was destroyed. I was there in the Chamber of Death when Sirius, Remus, Tonks and the others arrived. I was waiting. I knew that they were all perfectly capable of protecting themselves and you from most spells, but I had a very bad feeling about the battle being in the Chamber of Death. The whole time I was in there, under an invisibility cloak, guarding the veil. You see, I may not be a Seer, but I have the ability to know some things, and I knew that someone was going to fall into the veil. When Sirius was hit with Bellatrix's spell, I caught him," Melissa explained.   
  
"But if you caught him then why didn't you just come out once all of the Death Eaters were gone?" Harry asked.   
  
"Oh, that would have been brilliant. Come out right in front of Fudge? The idiot would have killed me on the spot, Harry," Sirius said.   
  
"But Dumbledore! You could have told Dumbledore before Fudge was gone," he argued.   
  
"I wish things had been that simple. First of all, Dumbledore left too soon-he left before Fudge did. And anyways, Sirius wasn't exactly in the best shape. Part of him did go through the veil-not enough of him for him to die, but enough of him for him to be in a very bad condition. Once Fudge had cleared out, I took Sirius back to my house and nursed him back to health. It's been very hard to hide him from all of the Ministry workers that have either been at my house or watching me," Melissa said.   
  
"But if he was alive and well at your house all of this time, why couldn't you have contacted Dumbledore?" Harry asked.   
  
"Haven't we told you that Melissa has been watched very closely by the Ministry since Sirius's escape? They've been intercepting all of her owls, watching her house, following her... There was no possible way for her to contact anyone," Lupin said.   
  
"But couldn't you have Apparated somewhere to meet Dumbledore, or someone? They can't follow you when you Apparate, can they?" Harry said.   
  
"No, they can't follow you by Apparition, but first off I can't Apparate into Hogwarts, and second I couldn't leave Sirius. He was in bad health, and with all of the Ministry officials around... It would have been far too great of a risk. I know it's been hard for you, thinking that he was dead, but there was really no other way," Melissa said.   
  
"But then how did you get here?" Harry asked. He was starting to believe that Sirius truly was alive, and that this was not a trick at all.   
  
"Well, as soon as I was in good enough health, we both Apparated here and contacted Remus and Dumbledore," Melissa explained.   
  
"This all seems so farfetched, though," Harry said.   
  
"I'm here, aren't I?" Sirius said. Harry stared at him. It was all too much. Just a couple hours ago he had been having nightmares about Sirius's death, and now here he was, face to face with Sirius, who wasn't dead after all. Harry didn't even think-he was so full of joy right now. He had never been happier. Without a second thought, Harry flung his arms around his godfather.   
  
"It's good to see you too, Harry," Sirius said with a laugh. He embraced Harry for a few moments, and then released him.   
  
"I can't believe this! Do Ron and Hermione know? Do all of the Weasley's know, and McGonagall and Snape and Hagrid and everyone else?" Harry asked, suddenly feeling very talkative.   
  
"Slow down there, Harry! McGonagall knows-I dunno how much Dumbledore has told Snape and Hagrid, though. Arthur Weasley knows, and the whole lot of them should be here sometime in the morning. They'll find out then," Sirius replied.   
  
"And what of Hermione?" Harry asked.   
  
"She'll be arriving with the Weasley's. Imagine, Harry, you'll actually be having a proper birthday this year!" Sirius said, beaming. It wasn't until Sirius had mentioned it that Harry realized that tomorrow (or rather today, as it was past 2 o'clock in the morning) was his birthday.   
  
"Yeah, I s'pose so," Harry said, "but I also expect you'll have to explain again how in the world you managed to survive." Melissa and Sirius both laughed.   
  
"Better that he's alive with a lot of explaining to do as opposed to being dead and needing no explanation," Melissa said. Harry looked at her more closely now than he had earlier. When he had first arrived he had been to preoccupied with the realization that Sirius was alive to pay much attention to Melissa. She really was very pretty. She had a pleasant face and she looked as though she was very athletic. Her eyes were stubborn, and she had a mischievous grin similar to Sirius's. She looked to be about the same age as Sirius and Lupin, and there was something about her that was oddly familiar. At the same time as he was studying her, she appeared to be doing the same to him.   
  
"He really does have Lily's eyes, doesn't he? I mean, they were that green when he was a baby, but I always supposed they'd fade a little, not be quite so bright," she murmured to Sirius. Sirius nodded.   
  
"He looks much more like James, though, don't you agree? If it weren't for the eyes, he could almost be James's twin," Sirius replied.   
  
"Too true," Melissa responded. The adults were talking about Harry almost as if he weren't there. He decided to remind them that he was there. He never had liked it when people talked about him like this, and Sirius was the last person he would have expected this sort of behavior from.   
  
"You knew my parents, then, Miss... er..." Harry realized that he didn't know what Melissa's last name was, and he felt uncomfortable calling someone older than him that he had just met by their first name.   
  
"Knew them? Melissa was your Mum's best friend at Hogwarts, and after as well," Sirius said.   
  
"Really? I knew you looked familiar, I think you're in some of the pictures that I have of my Mum," Harry said.   
  
"I'd like to see those sometime," Melissa said, a sad smile on her face at the mention of Lily.   
  
"That's enough chatting, Gumtree. The boy needs his rest," Mad-Eye interrupted.   
  
"Oh, Alastor, don't be such a spoilsport! I don't see why he needs to sleep, or even how he possibly could! He's just discovered that his father's best friend, his godfather, is alive after all, and he's just met his mother's best friend, his godmother, for the first time. I'd say that this is a special occasion," Lupin said.   
  
"Godmother?" Harry asked, looking at Melissa.   
  
"Er, yes. Sirius and I were to be your guardians if something happened to your parents, but then when Sirius went to Azkaban everything changed," she said.   
  
"But then I went to the Dursleys for no reason? You mean to tell me that I could have lived with you the whole time?" Harry asked.   
  
"Well, I suppose, but it was never meant to be just one of us, and Dumbledore insisted that it would be best for you to go and live with your aunt and uncle," Melissa replied.   
  
"What do you mean, it was never meant to be just one of you? Is there something that I'm missing?" Harry asked. Melissa and Sirius both grinned at each other, but neither one of them seemed to want to answer Harry's question.   
  
"Never you mind, now. That's really not important. Perhaps Moody's right-there's going to be an awful lot of activity in the morning, with all of the new arrivals. Maybe you should just go up to bed," Sirius said. He had turned a red color. This was very unusual behavior on his part, and now Harry was very curious about what was going on. He argued with Sirius, insisting that he was not tired at all and that there had been too much excitement in the last hour for him to be able to sleep. Sirius might have believed him if he hadn't yawned just as Sirius was about to give in.   
  
"Bed! Now!" Sirius insisted. Harry gave in and trudged up to the room where he had slept last year during his stays at Grimmauld Place.   
  
However, instead of going to bed, Harry pulled out an Extendable Ear that had been given to him by the Weasley twins. He stuck in next to the floor, and suddenly he could hear a conversation going on below him in the kitchen.   
  
"It seems so strange, finally meeting my godson," Melissa was saying.   
  
"Yeah, that's how I felt, too," Sirius said.   
  
"He seems to get more and more like James all the time," Lupin added.   
  
"Yes, sometimes that can be a bit painful, I suppose. I still can't believe that he's really gone, even after fifteen years. Lily too," Melissa said. She sounded sad.   
  
"One of these days, we'll make Pettigrew pay for what he's done," Lupin said.   
  
"Yes, that'd be nice, wouldn't it? First, though, wouldn't it be better to catch Pettigrew?" Melissa asked.   
  
"Catch him? Why would we want to do that? I just want to kill him," Sirius said.   
  
"Yes, well, that's what he'd deserve, but don't you think we ought to use him to clear your name before we destroy all the evidence of your innocence?" Melissa asked.   
  
"Oh, what are the odds of that happening? We'll never catch the damn rat, and I'll be confined for life," Sirius said bitterly.   
  
"Couldn't you try to be just a little bit more optimistic? At least you're here, with the people who love you. You have Harry, and Melissa, and me. You're not dead, Sirius. I should think you would be grateful," Lupin said.   
  
"Oh, I'm grateful, I just hate being confined," Sirius said.   
  
"Perhaps you won't be confined much longer," said a new voice.   
  
"Dumbledore! I didn't notice that you'd arrived already," Melissa said.   
  
"Ah, yes, well, there were some things that I thought were best discussed before all of the children arrive," he said.   
  
"Harry's already here," Sirius said.   
  
"Ah, yes, upstairs asleep, isn't he? Well, I'm not bringing bad news, I just don't want to get Harry's hopes up. You see, there is a chance that you could be cleared, Sirius," Dumbledore said.   
  
"But how? You haven't caught Pettigrew," Lupin said.   
  
"Yes, but we have caught other Death Eaters. In fact, Lucius Malfoy has offered some very interesting information in order to stay out of Azkaban. Seems that not only will he turn in some of his fellow Death Eaters, but he is willing to give information about a certain man that was in Azkaban for no reason," Dumbledore said.   
  
"But why would Lucius tell them that I'm innocent? And would they believe him?" Sirius asked.   
  
"Certainly they'd believe him. He is a well respected man, even if he is a Death Eater. After all, money can buy many things," Dumbledore said.   
  
"But you still haven't explained why Lucius would clear Sirius," Melissa pointed out.   
  
"Ah, well, Lucius believes that he saw Sirius die, doesn't he? He believes that he would be taunting you and Remus by clearing his name and setting him free once it won't do any good," Dumbledore replied. Harry couldn't see into the room, but he had a feeling that Dumbledore was probably smiling.   
  
"You mean they don't know that I'm alive?" Sirius asked.   
  
"None of them. Not even all of the Order knows that you survived, and all of the Death Eaters believe that you died," Dumbledore said.   
  
"But when is Lucius's hearing?" Lupin asked.   
  
"Tomorrow morning. I'll be there, and if Fudge believes that you are innocent, Sirius, I will tell him that you are alive after all and I would think that he should be getting in touch with you. I expect he may have a full apology and everything...Although he might want to talk to you with Veritaserum first," Dumbledore said.   
  
"But Veritaserum takes a long time to make, and only the best potion brewers can make it," Sirius said.   
  
"I realize that, Sirius. I've already had Snape make some- I expected that there would be some use for it in the near future," Dumbledore said.   
  
"Well, then, that sounds like our odds are good," Melissa said.   
  
"Perhaps. Don't get your hopes up too soon, though, Melissa," he said.   
  
"Of course," she said.   
  
"Well, then, I'd best be off. I have to be at the Ministry in a few hours-I'll return after Lucius's hearing," he said.   
  
"All right, then. I'd best be off to bed, as well," Lupin said.   
  
"Well, Melissa, just the two of us at last," Sirius said.   
  
"Yes... It's been such a long time, hasn't it? I mean, even when you were at my house, you were in no condition to talk," she murmured.   
  
"What could you have possibly thought of me the night of James and Lily's..." Sirius began.   
  
"Oh, don't talk about it, please. I still hate thinking about it. I knew all along that it wasn't you, but it still hurts to think that Wormtail would do that to them," she said.   
  
"Yes. But we'll catch him, I know it," Sirius said.   
  
"Yes, of course." There was a silence between them for a moment.   
  
"Melissa?" Sirius said finally.   
  
"Yes?" she replied.   
  
"I was just thinking," he said.   
  
"And..." Melissa said.   
  
"Well, if I am cleared... My offer still stands, you know. It may have been fifteen years but my feelings for you haven't changed at all."   
  
"Well, it's good to hear that, because I feel the exact same way. I still love you, Sirius. And as for your offer... You don't even have to ask. You should know my answer already," she said.   
  
"Yes, well, I suppose we'd best get some sleep as well. I'm going to check on Harry before I go to sleep," Sirius said.   
  
"I'll come with you," Melissa replied, and Harry hurriedly put away the Extendable Ear. He did not want his godparents to realize that he had been eavesdropping. He shoved the ear into his trunk, closed it, and hopped into his bed. He had just pulled the covers over him when his door opened. Sirius stood in the door frame, his arm around Melissa. He looked at Harry, who quickly pretended to be asleep, and then they closed the door and left.   
  
'What offer?' Harry thought to himself as he closed his eyes. 'He couldn't have meant marriage, could he?' Harry thought as he drifted off into a peaceful sleep.  
  
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	3. The Pride and Joy of the Weasleys

Harry Potter and the Students of the School of the Sphinx  
  
By Angelina Johnson  
  
Chapter 3  
  
The Pride and Joy of the Weasleys  
  
Harry woke early the next morning and went down into the kitchen to find that Sirius and Melissa were already seated at the table, reading the Daily Prophet. Both of them looked nervous, and Harry had a feeling that they were anxiously awaiting Dumbledore's arrival and news of Lucius Malfoy's hearing.  
  
Harry slid into a chair beside Sirius, and then the three were joined by Lupin, who also looked anxious. There was sort of an uncomfortable silence. The adults, of course, did not realize that Harry knew that there was a chance that Sirius could be cleared. They were respecting Dumbledore's wishes, of course, and not telling him. They didn't want to get his hopes up the way that theirs already were. He could see that Sirius looked nervous. Harry didn't blame him; he had been in Azkaban for so many years, and then on the run, and then most people had believed he was dead. It would be such a load off of his shoulders to be able to reveal himself, to have people know that he was alive and innocent.  
  
"What time are the Weasleys arriving?" Harry asked, breaking the uneasy silence.  
  
"Should be here any minute, actually," Sirius said. Sure enough, just as Sirius had spoken the doorbell rang. Lupin hopped up to answer it.  
  
"Can't draw too much attention to this house-I expect if I went to answer the door the whole lot of them would scream," Sirius said glumly. They heard the door close in the distance, and then the sounds of footsteps in the hall.  
  
"Come in and get settled. Now, we have something to show you that may come as a bit of a shock. Once you've put your things in your rooms, I'd like all of you to join me in the kitchen. Harry's already in there," Lupin said. He reappeared in the kitchen, and Harry hear noises that could only be the Weasley's dragging their things upstairs.  
  
"I just pray that they don't wake dear old mum," Sirius muttered darkly. Melissa laughed, and he broke into a grin.  
  
"Well, they're in for a shock. Before they would even come in the house, Hermione and Ron were pelting me with questions about how Harry was coping with your death," Lupin said, looking at Sirius. He, Melissa and Harry all laughed at this.  
  
After a minute, the first of the Weasleys came into the kitchen. The first was Mr. Weasley, who just nodded to all of them, but the next to come in was Ginny.  
  
"OH MY GOD!" Ginny yelled, "RON! HERMIONE! COME DOWN HERE! YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!" There was a look of shock on her face, and Harry was sure that that was the way that his face had looked the night before when he had saw Sirius. There had been a bit less noise, then. Harry heard running on the stairwell, and he assumed that Ron and Hermione were responding to Ginny's screams.  
  
"What's going on, Ginny? Why all the yell......... Oh my goodness! But........ But......... There's no way...... You're....... He's........... You can't be....... You just can't, you're........" Hermione stuttered.  
  
"You're dead," Ron said. Harry couldn't help but laugh, and he wasn't the only one. Melissa, Lupin, and Sirius were all grinning.  
  
"You know, that's exactly what Harry said. Exactly," Melissa said.  
  
"Yes, the first thing he said when he came out of the fire was, 'But you're dead.' Then he proceeded to 'I saw you die! I saw you get hit with Bellatrix's spell and fall into that veil! I saw it! They all told me that you were dead.' After that, he got to 'That's impossible! I watched you vanish! You must be a figment of my imagination, because you can't possibly be alive.' Then there were a lot more questions and a lot of explaining, but you three are on the right track," Sirius said.  
  
"Well done, Harry. That's exactly what I would have said," Ron said.  
  
"Oh, that's lovely, Ron, just on problem-this doesn't make any sense," Hermione said.  
  
"Yeah, I didn't think it made sense, either. It will in a minute, though," Harry said.  
  
"So then we will get an explanation?" Ginny said with a grin. She seemed amused. Harry was amazed that she seemed to get more and more like Fred and George everyday. Once she had finally opened up and not been afraid to talk to him, Ginny was an amazing person. She had a fantastic personality, on top of being smart, she was good at Quidditch, and Harry couldn't help but notice that she was actually very pretty. Suddenly, just as suddenly as the thought had occurred to him, the realization of who he was looking at hit him. Ginny Weasley? He was being silly. Ginny was his best friend's little sister.  
  
"Just wait a few minutes. This is quite a long explanation, and Severus should be here any moment," Mr. Weasley said.  
  
"Snape?" Ginny and Harry both said in horror.  
  
"Well, what did you expect? Dumbledore trusts him, and he is in the Order, after all," Mr. Weasley said.  
  
"I don't think it's fair to make them wait much longer, Arthur. Who knows how long Snape will be?" Sirius said.  
  
"Sirius, be reasonable. You're not the one doing the explaining. It's quite a long story, and I'm sure that Melissa wouldn't want to tell it twice," Mr. Weasley said.  
  
"I wouldn't mind telling it twice. However, telling it to just Snape is a different story," Melissa said.  
  
"Glad to see that you have that attitude about things, Melissa," said a sneering voice. Everyone turned to see that Snape had arrived.  
  
"Good to see you, Severus," Melissa said. Her tone was cold and false, and her eyes were hard as she stared at Snape.  
  
"What's all that about?" Ginny whispered to Harry. Harry shrugged.  
  
"I dunno. I'll have to ask one of them later," Harry said.  
  
"Can we just get on with the story?" Sirius asked. He glared at Snape, as well, and put an arm protectively around Melissa.  
  
"Yes, I am quite interested in how you managed to survive. Albus said that he was not the right person to explain things to me," Snape said. Harry looked at his godparents and Snape, and he saw that there was a greater loathing in Snape's eyes now than he had ever seen before. Harry had known that Snape hated his father, and Sirius, but Harry had never seen him glare at anyone that way. Melissa seemed very uncomfortable in her present situation, so she began to explain how Sirius had managed to survive.  
  
"Like I told Harry last night, this whole thing starts with me. Because I work both as an Auror and in the Department of Mysteries, I have many connections, and one of my connections mentioned that Voldemort was after a prophecy inside of the Department of Mysteries....." Melissa said.  
  
Harry barely listened to what Melissa was saying. After all, he had heard all of this before. Instead, Harry gazed all around the room. First he looked over at Snape, who, although he was listening, was still glaring at Sirius. Harry noticed that he still had his arm around Melissa. Next, Harry gazed at Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, who were looking at Melissa, listening intently to what she had to say, even if they had heard it already. Lupin, however, was gazing back and forth between Snape and Sirius, watching them carefully. Next Harry glanced at Ron, then Hermione. They both looked shocked by what Melissa was telling them, but their was relief mixed in. Harry knew that they were both glad that Sirius was alive after all.  
  
Last Harry looked at Ginny. She still looked amused. Harry found that he liked the way her eyes lit up, and the way that he face curved into a smile. Horrified at these thoughts, he shook his head.  
  
It appeared that Melissa had just finished her story, because there was silence, and everyone had a look of finality in their eyes. Snape was still giving Sirius the death glare.  
  
"Well, if that's all....... I'm, er, glad to know that you are alive and well, Black, but I must leave. I am a rather busy man, as you know. However, Dumbledore requested that I leave this for him. I suppose I can trust you to give this to him safely?" Snape said. Sirius nodded, and the two continued to glare at each other. Finally, Snape turned and left.  
  
"We're off to unpack," Ron said, "we'll catch up with you in a little while, Harry." And with that, Ron, Hermione, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley disappeared. Only Ginny remained.  
  
"Well, that was pleasant, wasn't it?" Ginny asked with a grin.  
  
"Yeah, I knew he didn't like you, but I've never seen him look at anyone like that, Sirius, not even me," Harry said.  
  
"He's just jealous," Sirius muttered.  
  
"He was always jealous of Sirius and James," Melissa said.  
  
"Yeah, but even in the Pensieve he never looked that evil. He looked like he wanted to kill Sirius just a few minutes ago. He never looked at my dad like that, did he?" Harry asked.  
  
"No, your dad never got that death glare. He got some pretty nasty looks, mind you, but Snape's always saved that one for me," Sirius said. Instead of looking grim and serious, though, he was grinning wickedly. So was Lupin.  
  
"I never noticed that before," Harry said.  
  
"I was never there before," Melissa said with a small sigh.  
  
"What does that have anything to do with it?" Harry asked, but she just grinned, too.  
  
"It's nothing, really," Melissa said.  
  
"Yes, not much at all. It's just that there was one thing in particular that Snape really wanted, and no matter how much he hated James, it wasn't James that had what he wanted. No, Sirius was the one that had the thing that Snape really wanted," Lupin said with a laugh. The three friends all seemed very amused by this.  
  
"And what would that be?" Ginny asked. Harry had almost forgotten that she was still there.  
  
"Me," Melissa said. Sirius grinned even broader than before. Harry had never seen him this happy before. It was nice to see how relaxed and happy his godfather was around Melissa. Even though they hadn't said it aloud, it was obvious that Sirius loved her. Harry was beginning to wonder why Sirius had never mentioned her before this.  
  
"But........." Ginny began, but it seemed that they were through answering questions.  
  
"That's enough, I think. Dumbledore will be here shortly, and we'll need to speak to him privately," Lupin said.  
  
"Fine, we take the hint," Ginny said, and she took Harry's hand and dragged him from the room.  
  
"That definitely was interesting," Harry said once he and Ginny were out in the hallway and the door was shut behind him.  
  
"I think it's sweet. Snape doesn't seem the type to fancy someone, or at least not someone as nice as her. I see him more fancying the sour type, like Malfoy's mum. It seems so odd," she said.  
  
"You think it's sweet that Snape fancies my godmum?" Harry asked.  
  
"No, I think that's rather sickening. I meant that Melissa and Sirius are sweet together," Ginny said.  
  
"Yeah, it is nice to see Sirius so happy," Harry said.  
  
"I didn't realize that she was your godmum, though. How long have you known?" she asked.  
  
"Oh, only since last night. I feel almost as if I've known her forever, though. It's really strange. Kinda nice, though, finding out that I have people who knew my parents and are there to care about me. I mean, first I found Sirius and Lupin, and now Melissa too," he said.  
  
"Yeah, it must be pretty nice to have all of them around," Ginny said, and an awkward silence fell. Harry found that he was unable to take his eyes away from her.  
  
"Have you gotten your Hogwarts letter yet?" Ginny asked.  
  
"Oh. Yeah. I haven't opened it yet, though. I've been too busy shredding every bit of mail I get," he said.  
  
"Oh, that explains why Ron and Hermione never heard back from you. They were worried about you. So was I. I'm glad to know that you're all right," Ginny said.  
  
"Well, I wasn't until last night. I'd been having nightmares all the time, I kept reliving all of my encounters with Voldemort," he said quietly.  
  
"Oh, well, that makes my nightmares seem very silly. I still have nightmares about being possessed by him, of course, but lately all of my nightmares have been about being made a Prefect. Fred and George were so ashamed. They were sure that I was going to follow in their footsteps," Ginny said.  
  
"You're a Prefect, then?" Harry asked. She nodded.  
  
"Mum was thrilled, and so was Percy. Ron is glad that he has someone to share his pain with. Hermione has been trying to teach us how to handle people that aren't following the rules. It's dreadful! I don't want to get people to follow the rules, I'd much rather be out there breaking them!" Ginny said. Harry laughed.  
  
"You get more and more like Fred and George all the time," he said with a grin.  
  
"I know. Isn't it great?" she asked wickedly.  
  
"Yeah, it is, actually," Harry said.  
  
"So.... Ron let it slip to me that you have an Invisibility Cloak. Interested in letting me use it sometime to wreak havoc once we're back at Hogwarts?"  
  
"Interesting offer. Would I be all right if I accompanied you?" he asked.  
  
"Do you really think I'd leave you behind? It is your Cloak. And you've got Fred and George's old map," she said, grinning again.  
  
"Sounds like great fun. Oh, here come Ron and Hermione, I suppose we ought to let them know about Snape fancying Melissa. Not to mention I have something else to tell you three about. I overheard some stuff last night when Dumbledore was here," Harry said. Ginny laughed. She was lovely when she laughed.  
  
'What is going on?' Harry wondered. 'Why am I thinking these thinks about Ginny? I can't possibly fancy her!' Harry's thoughts were interrupted, however, by Ron and Hermione, who had started interrogating them.  
  
"I'll answer all of your questions upstairs, and I want to hear all about what has been going on at the Burrow," Harry said.  
  
"Oh, nothing interesting. I'm more interested in what's been going on here," Hermione said.  
  
"I've only been here since last night, and I already have learned loads," Harry said. He proceeded to tell them (aided by Ginny), what Sirius, Melissa and Lupin had just told them about Snape. Then he told them what Dumbledore had said last night to Sirius.  
  
"You mean Sirius could get cleared?" Hermione asked.  
  
"It's possible," Harry replied.  
  
"And Malfoy's dad is the one who's going to vouch for him?" Ron wondered.  
  
"Yep. He doesn't know that Sirius is alive, though," Harry said.  
  
"What a nasty shock he's going to get, then," Ginny said with a laugh.  
  
"Anyways, Dumbledore should be here soon. There's nothing we can do but wait. How about a game of Exploding Snap?" Ron asked.  
  
"Too boring. What do you say to setting off some fireworks in the house? Get Mrs. Black screaming?" Ginny said.  
  
"Ginny, that's horrible," Hermione protested.  
  
"I think it's a brilliant idea. Sirius told me that she still thinks he's dead. I say we give her a nasty little shock," Harry said with a grin.  
  
"Oh, fine! You three go set off fireworks....." Hermione began.  
  
"Oh, no, leave me out. I'm in enough trouble with Mum already. She's unhappy with my owl scores......." Ron said.  
  
"Well, I suppose it's just you and me then, Harry. Are you up for it?" Ginny asked.  
  
"But of course," he said.  
  
"This I gotta see," Ron said, and they all trudged to the staircase. Ron and Hermione stayed at the top of the stairs while Harry and Ginny proceeded to the middle of the stairs. Ginny pulled two fireworks out of her pocket, and she handed one to Harry. They both lit them, and then threw them down towards the portrait. There was a loud explosion, and then Mrs. Black's screams began. Her screams were quickly joined by Mrs. Weasley.  
  
"RONALD WEASLEY!" she roared.  
  
"It wasn't me!" Ron protested, and Ginny, Harry, and his godparents, who had come from the kitchen to see what had caused the commotion, all roared with laughter. 


	4. Veritaserum

Harry Potter and the Students of the School of the Sphinx  
  
By Angelina Johnson  
  
Chapter 4  
  
Veritaserum  
  
Ron refused to talk to either Ginny or Harry after that. Hermione told them not to worry about it, and that Ron would get over it. Then she went off to talk to Ron. Harry, who had already know that Ron wasn't really mad and that he would come around soon, decided that there was no use in trying to talk to him yet, so instead he and Ginny decided to go back downstairs to talk to Sirius before Dumbledore arrived.  
  
"Sirius... We were just wondering what happened to Kreacher," Ginny said softly.  
  
"Yeah, I mean, he knew too much to be set free, and you wouldn't have killed him..... Would you have?" Harry asked. Sirius looked dazed. He was the only one in the kitchen at the moment. Harry had no idea where the other two had gone.  
  
"What? Oh, no, of course I wouldn't have killed him," Sirius said.  
  
"Then what happened to him?" Harry asked.  
  
"Oh, Dumbledore performed a very powerful memory charm on him, and then we set him free. He remembers nothing. He doesn't even remember the family that he served. We also changed his appearance quite a bit, so that none of Voldemort's supporters could track him down and try to break the charm," Sirius said.  
  
"So he was spared his life? Hermione'll be glad to hear that," Harry said with a laugh.  
  
"Yes, I suppose she will be, won't she? I can't believe she's still on about the house-elves being mistreated. They like to serve people. Most of them are unhappy when they are set free," Sirius said.  
  
"Yeah, I know that, and Ron knows that, but no matter how hard we try to convince Hermione, she refuses to believe it," Harry said.  
  
"Yes, well, at least she thinks for herself. I know so many people who were dependent on their friends to make all of their decisions for them. There's one in particular that never made her mind up about anything until either your mum, Melissa or Julie told her that it was right," Sirius said.  
  
"Who's Julie?" Harry interrupted.  
  
"Oh, another of our old friends. She was the third member of your mum and Melissa's little circle. Melissa, Julie and Lily were just like Remus, James and I. Too bad that Julie refuses to speak to or be anywhere near Remus. We could sure use her in the Order," Sirius said glumly.  
  
"Why won't she go anywhere near Lupin?" Ginny asked.  
  
"They hurt each other too badly. They couldn't bear it after a while. It almost tore all of us apart, them being apart. It's not important now-Remus has put it behind him and I just wish that Julie would do the same. She's a very powerful witch, she's just very stubborn," Sirius said.  
  
"Must be talking about Julie Montgomery, then," Melissa said as she and Lupin reentered the room.  
  
"Yeah, that's exactly who we're talking about," Sirius said.  
  
"I was just sending an owl to her, to be honest. I have managed to keep in touch with her, at least a little bit. Dumbledore wants me to try and persuade her to join the Order," Melissa said.  
  
"That would be fun. Almost like old times," Remus said sadly.  
  
"She's wrong, Remus. She can't possibly still have any hard feelings. She knows that it's silly for her to hold a grudge this long over something so stupid," Melissa said.  
  
"I hurt her," Lupin muttered darkly.  
  
"And she hurt you, too. You both hurt each other. It wasn't one sided, and it's silly of her to blame everything on you," Melissa said.  
  
"She's right too," Lupin said.  
  
"Don't be silly!" Melissa protested, but it was to no avail. Obviously Lupin's position was set. Harry found that this conversation was rather depressing, and he didn't even understand all of the circumstances. He had just caught Ginny's attention, and he could tell that she, too, was trying to come up with a way to change the subject. However, at that very moment Dumbledore chose to Apparate into the middle of the room.  
  
"Well, it's all settled. Fudge believes Lucius Malfoy. Though I hate to see a Death Eater out of Azkaban, but it's not like he'd have been in there for long, anyway, with the Dementors joining Voldemort left and right. It seems as though you're home free, Sirius. Fudge believes Lucius may be correct, because his story seems to match exactly with the one that Harry and I told him two years ago. All that is left is for you to come to London. The Veritaserum will only confirm your innocence to Fudge," Dumbledore said. He had glanced at Harry and Ginny, and Harry had been afraid that Dumbledore was going to force them to leave, but instead he said nothing to them.  
  
"It seems too easy, though. After fifteen years Fudge is going to finally believe that I am innocent just because a Death Eater tells him that I am? Do either of them even know that I am alive? And what if this goes wrong, and the potion backfires or something? I know that you trust Snape, Albus, but I have reason to think that he would do anything in his power to get me out of the way," Sirius said.  
  
"Don't be ridiculous, Sirius. I realize that you and Severus have some, er, differences, but I trust that he would not sink so low as to turn an innocent man over to the Dementors just because of a silly school boy grudge. And even if he would sink to that level, I supervised him when he was making the potion. I wanted to make sure that it was perfect. As for either of them knowing that you are alive, well, Lucius Malfoy is unaware. I doubt that he would have given Cornelius his information had he known, or even suspected, that you were alive. However, I myself told the Minister that you are alive and well, and I also told him that I know you're whereabouts and I will bring you to a hearing in the Ministry shortly. And, should anything go wrong, which I assure you it won't, I will personally make sure that you escape with no harm. I find that I am very good at escaping from Ministry officials," Dumbledore said with a smile.  
  
"That's reassuring," Melissa said.  
  
"When do we leave?" Sirius asked.  
  
"Immediately. Cornelius says that an innocent man has been punished for long enough. I trust that Severus left the Veritaserum with you?" Sirius nodded, and handed him the potion.  
  
"Very good. Shall we Apparate? Or travel by Floo Powder?" Dumbledore asked.  
  
"May I come?" Harry asked eagerly.  
  
"Er, no, Harry, I'm sorry, but I don't think that that would be wise. However, I assure you that I will bring Sirius back in one piece. Melissa, I want you and Remus to stay here as well," Dumbledore said. Harry wanted to argue, and Melissa looked as though she was about to, but Lupin put a hand on both of their shoulders. Melissa frowned, and then turned to Sirius.  
  
"Don't say anything stupid," she muttered as she gave him a hug, "and I'll see you later." She and Sirius parted, and then he and Dumbledore both disappeared with a Pop!  
  
"This is so exciting!" Ginny said happily.  
  
"Yeah, it is, isn't it?" Harry said. He was still in shock. There was no way now that Sirius couldn't be cleared.  
  
Harry and Ginny sat down at the kitchen table and played a few games of Wizarding Chess while they waited for Sirius to return. It all did seem too easy, but then, easy was the way things should be for Sirius. He had been punished so long, and he had been hurt so much. He deserved to have something good come to him. And it hadn't been that easy, not really. After all, it had taken fifteen years to get anyone to believe that he was innocent.  
  
Several hours later, Ginny and Harry were both growing bored and impatient. They had both been wondering for a while what had been taking so long.  
  
"You don't suppose that something's gone wrong, do you?" Ginny asked.  
  
"No, of course not. Nothing could possibly go wrong," Harry said, more to reassure himself than to reassure Ginny.  
  
Everyone had just come into the kitchen to eat dinner when Sirius and Dumbledore reappeared. Dumbledore had a copy of the Evening Prophet in his hand.  
  
"I hope you have quite a feast prepared, because I'd say that this calls for a celebration," Dumbledore said, and he laid the newspaper down on the table. Harry picked it up and looked at the headline, "The Ministry's Mistake-Sirius Black was Innocent." Harry quickly read through he article, which explained that one of You-Know-Who's Death Eaters had given the Ministry the information about Black's innocence, and it explained how instead Peter Pettigrew was the one who had committed those crimes. The whole newspaper seemed to go on the same way, explaining the circumstances of Sirius' arrest, and how under Veritaserum he had confirmed the story that the Death Eater had told. The article also talked about how dangerous Pettigrew was.  
  
"Marvelous! I've just heard the good news!" Tonks said cheerily as she, too, appeared in the room.  
  
Mrs. Weasley cooked an excellent dinner, and as the night wore on many more visitors appeared. All of them seemed just as happy about Sirius being cleared as Harry was.  
  
The party seemed to go on and on forever, and things were just winding down at around midnight when one last visitor appeared.  
  
Harry had never seen her before. She was short, with curly auburn hair and brown-green eyes. She looked to be rather pretty, but at the moment her face was set in a stubborn frown. She smiled slightly at Sirius and Melissa when she arrived, but otherwise there seemed to be no cheeriness to her, at least not here. Even without being told, Harry had an idea of who she must have been. He looked at Ginny, and she met his eyes. She nodded. Apparently she must have thought the same thing as he did.  
  
"Who do you reckon that is?" Ron said, but Mrs. Weasley had just come over to the spot where Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione were standing.  
  
"I think it's time for you to go up to bed," she said to the four. All four began to protest.  
  
"You four are too nosy for your own good! Up to bed, now!" she insisted. Ron trudged up the stairs, as did Hermione, but Ginny did not give in so easily. True to what she had said last night, she truly was like Fred and George, and she was going to stand up to her mother.  
  
"I said bed, Ginny," Mrs. Weasley said.  
  
"No, Mum," she said, meeting her mother's eyes.  
  
"This conversation has nothing to do with you, it is between old friends. Now I want you to go to bed-and no Extendable Ears," she said.  
  
"Lighten up, Molly. Harry can hear this, and I think Ginny should, too," Sirius said.  
  
"But....... Surely you will hear nothing of this, Melissa!" Mrs. Weasley protested.  
  
"It's not up to me. This isn't about me, not really," Melissa said.  
  
"Remus? Julie?" Mrs. Weasley asked as a last resort. So Harry had been right about the stranger's identity. He turned to Ginny, and she nodded again. She had been right as well.  
  
"I have no objection," Remus said.  
  
"There are a few things I'd like to settle before I sit down and talk to my friends son, but he is welcome to stay, as is his friend. What's your name, dear?" Julie asked.  
  
"Ginny," she stuttered.  
  
"Ah, yes, Ginny. Well, Molly, I have no objection to Ginny being here," Julie said.  
  
"The other two will have a fit! I suppose I should send them down as well?" Mrs. Weasley asked.  
  
"Yes, of course," Julie replied. She looked much more friendly now-she was actually smiling. A moment later they were joined by a confused Ron and Hermione.  
  
"Who is she?" Ron whispered.  
  
"Another friend of my mum's," Harry muttered.  
  
"Yeah, apparently she and Lupin have some grudge, though," Ginny added. They didn't say anymore, because the adults had begun to talk.  
  
"Well, it is nice to see you again," Julie exclaimed, hugging Melissa, then Sirius. She turned to Lupin, looking unsure of herself. Lupin was staring at his shoes. He glanced up for a moment, and caught her eyes, but she quickly looked away.  
  
"And how nice it is to meet you, Harry!" she said, turning to him.  
  
"Harry, this is Julie Montgomery, the one we were telling you about earlier. Julie, these are his other friends, Ron and Hermione," Sirius explained.  
  
"It's a pleasure to meet you all as well," she said.  
  
"I'm surprised that you came, Julie," Melissa said.  
  
"Well, I got your letter, telling me that the three of you were all here, working for the Order. I wasn't going to come, but then I got the Evening Prophet, and when I saw that Sirius had been cleared I felt that I had to come. Congratulations, then. I knew you never did those horrible things! I doubted it the moment that I heard it, and Melissa explained things to me shortly after your arrest," Julie said. Lupin glared at Melissa in disbelief.  
  
"Am I the only one that didn't know that Sirius was innocent? How many people did you tell, Melissa?" he asked.  
  
"Oh, don't be silly, I only told Julie and Tonks. I would have told you, but I never really got a safe chance," she said.  
  
"Well, that's not the only reason that I came. As I told Molly, there are a few things that I want to resolve," Julie said, pretending as though Lupin had never interrupted her.  
  
"Really?" Sirius said.  
  
"Well, yes. I've been thinking a lot lately, and I've been rather silly for a long time. I, well, I'm quite ashamed of some of the decisions I've made, and the grudges I've held, and I just wanted to say that I truly am sorry, and I understand if you don't want to forgive me," Julie said. Her full attention was turned to Lupin now. It was obvious that none of this had been addressed to Sirius and Melissa, it had been solely to him.  
  
"Don't be ridiculous. I'm the one that should be asking for your forgiveness," he said.  
  
"Oh, but I forgave you such a long time ago! It was myself that I was angry at, I just couldn't admit that I had forgiven you because it would have been admitting that I had made a mistake, and you know how stubborn I can be at times," Julie said.  
  
"It's not important what happened, or why we were angry. I just miss us being friends, Julie," Lupin said.  
  
"As do I, Remus. As do I." They locked eyes, and Harry saw that they had a look in their eyes similar to the one in Sirius and Melissa's when they looked at each other. Harry grinned. There was so much that he was learning about his parent's old friends.  
  
Lupin and Julie were hugging now, and Harry could see that there were tears in the woman's eyes. He felt rather embarrassed, as though this were not something that he should be seeing after all. He looked at the others, and apparently they had the same idea. Ron mouthed, 'Let's go.' Harry nodded. He turned to Sirius.  
  
"Perhaps we should talk in the morning," he said. Sirius grinned wickedly.  
  
"Yes, Melissa and I had the same idea. I believe that they may have changed their minds and would prefer to be alone," he said. The six of them left the room quietly, and they all headed towards their bedrooms.  
  
"Isn't it so romantic?" Ginny asked dreamily as she left Harry and headed toward her and Hermione's room. Harry couldn't help but stare after her. Once she was out of sight, he turned into his and Ron's room and closed the door behind him. Then he settled into bed, wondering what surprises tomorrow could possibly have left to hold. 


	5. A Different Kind Of Kiss

Harry Potter and the Students of the School of the Sphinx  
  
By Angelina Johnson  
  
Chapter 5  
  
A Different Kind of Kiss  
  
It was unbelievable how quickly the rest of the summer passed. No matter how wonderful summers before this had been, summers that he had spent free or with the Weasleys, this one was easily better. It was so wonderful to be around Sirius, and once you added in Melissa, Julie, and Lupin, it was marvelous. It was hard to believe that three years ago he had never met any of his parents friends, and now here he was living with them for the summer. Melissa and Sirius seemed to be permanent residents of Grimmauld Place. Lupin would disappear for short period of times, but Harry contributed this to the full moon. Sirius told Harry that while Lupin took his potion all of those times, he felt more comfortable knowing that he were not around anyone in case he slipped up. The last thing he wanted to do was put any of them in any sort of danger. Julie also disappeared every once in a while, though not at the full moon. Melissa explained to Harry that this was due to the fact that she still had other things that she needed to take care of. "She would rather be here, with us, fighting the thing that killed her friends, than anywhere else in the world, but she can't just pick up and leave without any explanation." This made sense, and Harry asked no questions.  
  
Harry had found that he was very comfortable around his parents' friends. Sirius and Melissa were almost like parents to him. Harry and Ginny had done some snooping, and they had found out that they were going to be more like parents to him than they could have guessed. Harry had told Ginny about the conversation he had overheard the night of his arrival. Ginny had been almost as curious about Sirius's offer as Harry had been, so with the help of the Extendable Ears, and Fred and George's newest invention, the Enhanced Eyes (these were almost like Muggle contacts-you put them into your eyes and they made it so that you could see for almost a mile) they had figured out that Sirius's offer was exactly what Harry had suspected. Harry was having a very hard time picturing Sirius being married at all, but then, Melissa was exactly like him. From all the stories she had told him, she sounded as if she caused almost as much trouble as Sirius and his father had.  
  
"I think it's cute," Ginny said.  
  
"You think everything's cute," Harry said.  
  
"Oh, shut up. When do you think the wedding will be?" Ginny asked.  
  
"How should I know? They haven't even told me that they're engaged yet. We had to find out by spying," Harry said.  
  
"I expect they'll tell you before you leave for Hogwarts," Ginny said.  
  
"Yeah, maybe. That reminds me- I still need to pack. It was nice of your mum to get all of my stuff when she was in Diagon Alley," Harry said.  
  
"Oh, you know she loves it. She likes you more than her own children. Besides, she knew that you didn't want to miss spending any time with Sirius. After everyone thought he was dead, she realized that you shouldn't take your time with him for granted," Ginny said.  
  
"Yeah, well, I'll talk to you later, Ginny," Harry said as he retreated to his room to pack.  
  
Ron was already in there, packing as well.  
  
"Where have you been? I was wondering when you were going to pack for tomorrow," Ron said.  
  
"I was talking to Ginny," Harry said as he pulled everything out of his trunk. It was all to wrinkled, and he needed to refold it.  
  
"You've been doing an awful lot of that lately," Ron said.  
  
"Yeah, I guess I have," Harry said. Ron had a suspicious look in his eyes. Harry ignored him and continued packing.  
  
"Do you-er-fancy her? 'Cause Hermione says that she thinks Ginny likes you again," Ron said nervously.  
  
"No, of course not. She's your sister, Ron. Get real. She's nice as a friend, but really," Harry said, although he wasn't sure it was true.  
  
"Oh. Okay. Well, I was going to say, if you did, that I don't mind. I mean, I'd rather it be you than some other loser," Ron said. Harry laughed inside. Harry was sure that if he had told Ron that he might have a thing for Ginny, he would not have had the same reaction.  
  
As soon as Harry was done packing, he went downstairs to talk to Sirius and Melissa again. However, when he found them, Melissa looked as though she were about to leave. There were suitcases at her feet, and she looked as though she were saying good-bye to Sirius. She didn't look happy, either-Harry guessed that she was going to be gone for a while.  
  
"Where are you going?" Harry asked.  
  
"It's a surprise," Melissa replied, smiling.  
  
"Yes, you'll find out soon enough," Sirius said. Both of them wore matching mischievous grins.  
  
"Well, I'll see you soon," Melissa said, giving Harry a quick hug. She was about to step into the fire when she turned back around.  
  
"Actually, Harry, before I go, we have something to tell you," Melissa said. Sirius beamed.  
  
"What is it?" Harry asked. He tried to play dumb. He didn't want them to know that he had been listening to their conversations.  
  
"Well, Harry, Melissa and I are engaged," Sirius said. Harry acted shocked, and he thought that he had perhaps fooled them.  
  
"Although I'm sure you and Ginny already knew that," Melissa added wickedly.  
  
"Well, yeah," Harry said, hanging his head. Sirius and Melissa both laughed.  
  
"Did you use the Extendable Ears? Or the Enhanced Eyes?" Sirius asked.  
  
"Both," Harry said.  
  
"Molly'll have a fit!" Melissa said.  
  
"I love it," Sirius said, "the two of you really did things right, then, didn't you? Did you tell the other two?" Sirius asked.  
  
"No, not yet. We were waiting until you actually told us, and until we knew more," Harry said.  
  
"More like James everyday, what have I been telling you?" Sirius said.  
  
"Anyways, the wedding is going to be over the Christmas holidays, and all of you are invited. Although I dare say we understand if your friends would rather stay at Hogwarts," Melissa said.  
  
"Don't be ridiculous, we'll all come," Harry said.  
  
"Well, we'll let you know when we set the exact date, but it will definitely be during your break," Sirius said.  
  
"Well, bye then," Melissa said, hugging Harry again before she disappeared into the fire. Harry couldn't hear what she yelled into the fire. He supposed that Sirius had had something to do with that.  
  
"Are you sure you can't tell me where she's going?" Harry asked.  
  
"No, Harry, you'll know soon enough," Sirius said.  
  
"Is she doing something important for Dumbledore?" he asked.  
  
"I suppose you could say that," Sirius replied.  
  
The next morning they all woke early and headed to King's Cross. This year Sirius was able to accompany them as a human. Once they had gone through the barrier, many wizards and witches kept coming up to Sirius. Each one of them was apologizing for ever having believed that he would have done such an awful thing.  
  
Harry was afraid that he wouldn't get a chance to say good-bye to Sirius at the rate people were crowding around him, but finally, just as the train was about to go, he got a chance.  
  
"Don't cause too much trouble this year, Harry. And do think before you go off somewhere. I doubt you'll have anyone that'll be too much trouble this year. After all, the Ministry is on Dumbledore's side now, and that awful Umbridge woman won't be there. Fudge fired her when he heard that she sent the Dementors after you, and I'm sure you'll like her replacement at Hogwarts. Listen, Harry, I'll keep in touch. You better go-the train's leaving. I'll see you soon," Sirius said, and he nudged Harry in the direction of the steaming train. Harry gave Sirius a quick hug, and then he hopped onto the train.  
  
Once he was onboard, he tried to find someone that he knew. He walked through the compartments alone-Ginny, Ron and Hermione were all in the Prefects compartment. At least that's what he thought.  
  
"Harry, I've been waiting for you!" Ginny exclaimed as he entered the next compartment.  
  
"Aren't you supposed to be in the Prefects compartment? That's where Ron and Hermione are," Harry said.  
  
"Oh, like I'd ever be caught dead at a Prefects Meeting! No, Ron promised that he'd tell me what they talked about. He wanted to skive off, too, but Hermione gave him the death glare and dragged him along," Ginny said with a laugh.  
  
"Sit down, they shouldn't be gone much longer," Ginny said, and Harry took the seat next to her.  
  
"Wonder who the new Defense Against the Dark Art's teacher will be," Harry said.  
  
"I dunno, but anything's better than Umbridge. Or Quirrell. Or Lockhart," Ginny said.  
  
"I wouldn't be so sure. I thought there was nothing better than Quirrell-and then Lockhart came. I thought there couldn't be anything worse than Lockhart, but then I met Umbridge. It'd be pretty hard to top her, but it wouldn't be impossible. Although Sirius said that he thought I'd like the new professor," Harry said.  
  
"I take it that Sirius knows who it is, then. I wonder what they're like-I like all of Sirius' friends, at least the ones that I've met, of course, but still," Ginny said. She was smiling again. She glowed when she smiled.  
  
"Who's the other Gryffindor Prefect this year?" Harry asked.  
  
"Colin Creevey," Ginny said.  
  
"Really?" Harry asked in disbelief. Colin had never struck Harry as the Prefect type.  
  
"Really. Are you Quidditch captain?" Ginny asked.  
  
"Yep. We've got a lot of rebuilding to do this year-all that's left is Ron and I," Harry said.  
  
"But what about........" Ginny began.  
  
"We're getting new beaters," Harry said. Ginny grinned.  
  
"Thank goodness," Ginny replied.  
  
"Are you going to try out for the team?" Harry asked.  
  
"Yeah, but I doubt I'll make it," Ginny said.  
  
"Don't be silly, you're a good flier," Harry said.  
  
"You're better," Ginny said. Harry felt his cheeks turning red. Why was Ginny having this affect on him?  
  
"Well, I can't make any promises, but if you tried out for Chaser I'm sure you'd make it," Harry reassured her. Ginny beamed. Harry's stomach did a flip. Ginny's cheeks seemed to be turning red as well. What was going on? Was it possible that he and Ginny liked each other as more than just friends?  
  
"Well, um....." Ginny said uncomfortably.  
  
"Yeah..." Harry said stupidly. He wished that he could come up with something intelligent to say. 'Why can't there be someone else in this compartment? I'm drowning here! I feel like an idiot! Why does it just have to be me and her?' Harry wondered. Ginny gazed up at him nervously. Harry gazed back. What happened next all went very quickly. Harry had leaned down, and Ginny had tilted her head upwards. Before either one of them realized what was happening, their lips were pressed together. Harry felt like he was floating. This was wonderful, but what in the world was he going to do if Ron found out that he had kissed his sister? Harry ignored the nagging feeling inside of him, and he continued to kiss Ginny. Finally, they pulled apart. Ginny was still very near him, still glancing up at him through her big brown eyes. Harry couldn't take his eyes off of her, once again.  
  
"Wow," Ginny murmured. Harry nodded.  
  
"Ginny, I...." Harry began, but just then the compartment door slid open. Harry and Ginny jumped, putting much more distance in between them. Ron and Hermione walked in, and Harry prayed that they didn't notice the guilty expressions on both his and Ginny's faces. His cheeks were burning, and Ginny had turned a violent shade of red.  
  
"I was wondering where you two were," Ron said, sitting down. He seemed oblivious. Hermione glared at them warily, but she slid into the seat next to Ron without saying anything.  
  
"Those prefects meetings are so boring, I can't believe I let you weasel out of it, Ginny," Ron said.  
  
"Ron, it's an honor to be a Prefect! I'm ashamed of both of you, for not wanting to be at the meeting. I bet if Harry were a prefect he would have been there," Hermione said.  
  
"Oh no, leave me out of it," Harry said.  
  
"Anyways, you didn't miss much, Gin. All they talked about was all of our responsibilities and stuff," Ron said.  
  
"Well, it all sounds extremely boring to me. What do you say we play Gobstones or something?" Ginny asked. Harry thought that it was an excellent idea. He wanted to do anything but talk. He was afraid that either Ron or Hermione had noticed his and Ginny's strange behavior, and he didn't want them to ask any questions.  
  
After a little while, Neville Longbottom joined them in their compartment.  
  
"Hullo, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny!" Neville said cheerily.  
  
"Hullo Neville," they all replied together.  
  
"I read about Sirius in the newspaper! And to think that Snape almost got the Dementor's to give him a kiss! I'm really glad that he got off," Neville said. Harry nodded. Harry was thinking about a much different kind of kiss right now. He glanced at Ginny. She had been glancing at him, too, and when she noticed that he was looking at her, she began blushing and she turned away.  
  
The train ride seemed to go on this way for a very long time, but finally they arrived at Hogwarts. The five of them got off of the train, and they headed towards one of the carriages that waited to take them to the castle. Harry patted one of the thestrals that was leading the carriages. The others glanced at Harry, but he just shrugged. Ron, Ginny, and Hermione were unable to see the thestrals, although Neville could see them. Harry was glad that the others couldn't see them. That meant that the others had never witnessed death, and that was a relief. However, with the war that was now at hand, Harry doubted that all three of them would be unable to see the thestrals for much longer.   
  
Harry gave the thestral one last pat and then he climbed into the carriage. It was slightly crowded, with five of them, but they squeezed together enough to fit. Harry noticed, to his delight, that he was now very close to Ginny again. She seemed to have noticed, too, because she was blushing again.  
  
The Great Hall was glowing with candles, and the ceiling, which was enchanted to look like the night sky, was clear and star-filled. Harry took a seat at the Gryffindor table between Ginny and Hermione. He gave a quick glance around the hall, and was looking for the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at the staff table when the Sorting Hat began to sing.  
  
"I've given you my warning,  
  
And what I've told you still holds true.  
  
If you wish to survive this war,  
  
There's one thing you must do.  
  
All need to come together,  
  
each and every Hogwarts house.  
  
All that live in this castle,  
  
From a ghost down to a mouse.  
  
And though I sort you,  
  
Still it's wrong.  
  
What we've needed is unity  
  
all along."  
  
The hat appeared to have finished, and Professor McGonagall began to call out the names of first year students.  
  
"That was a short song," Ginny said.  
  
"Shortest one I've ever heard," Harry agreed. They watched until the last of the first years had been sorted, and then they clapped when McGonagall took the hat away.  
  
Once the applause had died down, Dumbledore stood up.  
  
"Welcome to another year of Hogwarts. Before the feast, I have a few announcements. First, I would like to remind all of you that the Forest on the edge of the grounds is out of bounds, as is the village of Hogsmeade to those in their first and second years. Next, I would like to welcome our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Gumtree," Dumbledore said. He pointed to Melissa, and the hall applauded.  
  
"So that's where she was going," Harry said.  
  
"I reckon Sirius was right after all, then," Ginny said with a laugh.  
  
"But I thought she worked as an Auror and in the Department of Mysteries. How can she be a teacher, too?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Dunno. I'll have to ask her," Harry said. He was going to say more, but then Dumbledore resumed his speech.  
  
"Yes, well, I would like to remind all of you that in this time, it is very important for all of us to come together. As all of you have heard, Lord Voldemort has returned to power, and I cannot stress to you how careful you all need to be," he said very seriously. His eyes were no longer twinkling.  
  
"Ah, yes, well, I feel that I have said enough. Let the feast begin," he said, and all of the plates magically filled with food. 


	6. The School of the Sphinx

Harry Potter and the Students of the School of the Sphinx  
  
By Angelina Johnson  
  
Chapter 6  
  
The School of the Sphinx  
  
The next morning, Harry sat down at the Gryffindor table between Ron and Hermione. He glanced around, hoping to see Ginny. She was with a group of fifth years girls, who were all talking and giggling around her. Harry wasn't sure if this was a good or a bad thing. He found that he wanted to spend time with Ginny, that he really wanted to be around her, but he was nervous when he was around her, and he felt strange. He had the same sort of feeling around Ginny that he used to have around Cho Chang, except it was different in a way. Harry couldn't quite figure it out. He sighed. He needed to talk to Ginny about what had happened, but it would have to wait.  
  
"Course schedules," Ron said, passing down a stack of papers. Harry grabbed the one with his name on it, and then passed them to Hermione. He looked down at the schedule. He had continued all of his classes except for Divination, which he had always been terrible at anyway. He had never once in his three years in the class seen anything, and he highly doubted that it would ever do him any good. He had, much to his dislike, continued Potions, which Professor McGonagall had recommended him take if he truly wanted to be an Auror in later life. Harry knew that he would have to work very hard to become an Auror, but it was something that he was willing to do. He compared his own schedule to Ron's and Hermione's.  
  
"I don't believe it, you've given up Divination and Potions! Wish I could've-McGonagall reckons I'll need it to be an Auror. Two Snape free years-you have all the luck," Harry said glumly.  
  
"I haven't given up any of my courses! I don't see how you two could-although giving up Divination I understand. Ron, don't you think you're going to need Potions?" Hermione asked.  
  
"No. I'm not missing anything, it's not like I ever really learned anything from Snape," Ron said.  
  
"That's not true," Hermione began.  
  
"Will you two stop arguing? It's only the first day," Harry said. Hermione and Ron both looked at him nervously-they both had been on the wrong end of Harry's temper before and they were not eager to do it again.  
  
"What do we have today?" Ron asked.  
  
"I have Potions this morning," Harry said.  
  
"Yes, that's all I have," Hermione said.  
  
"I have nothing," Ron said gleefully.  
  
"Lucky," Harry muttered. Hermione glared at him.  
  
"All three of us have Defense Against the Dark Arts this afternoon, though," Hermione said, pointing to their schedules. Harry smiled. He was sure that Potions would be miserable, but Defense Against the Dark Arts was sure to be fun.  
  
"Say, Harry, I've been thinking, and I was wondering if you thought we should continue the D.A.," Hermione said.  
  
"I hadn't thought about it. I mean, this year we'll actually be learning things, but maybe we should continue the D.A. anyways. After all, Defense Against the Dark Arts may teach us the spells, but how many people take them seriously? I never thought that I would need any of that stuff until I actually came face to face with Voldemort. Perhaps we should continue anyway. It seems more real to people when I explain to them how it actually can be used," Harry said.  
  
"So we'll continue it, then? Should we ask Dumbledore for permission?" Hermione asked.  
  
"I reckon Dumbledore won't mind. I'll talk to Melissa about it, I guess," Harry said.  
  
Once breakfast was done, Ron headed back up to the Common Room to relax while Harry and Hermione headed towards the dungeons.  
  
"I can't believe I'm sticking with Potions," Harry muttered darkly.  
  
"Well, if you have that attitude about it, you're going to have a miserable time," Hermione said.  
  
"I have a miserable time in Potions no matter what," Harry said. Hermione and Harry took seats next to each other and looked around at the other members of the class. There was a mixture of all Houses in the class. The only other Gryffindor's in the class were Seamus Finnigan and Parvati Patil. There were a few Ravenclaws, and three Hufflepuffs that Harry recognized, Justin Finch-Fletchey, Hannah Abbott, and Ernie Macmillan. Harry looked around and saw Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson sitting together. He was pleased to note that neither Crabbe nor Goyle, Malfoy's flunkies, were in the class.  
  
"Welcome to Potions class. I am impressed to see that so many of you made it this far. You are the best of the best-supposedly," Snape added, sneering at Harry, "and that is a requirement to be in this class. In the next two years, you will be brewing some of the most difficult potions that exist, and I am sure that some of you will not be up to the challenge. Those who follow this path, however, and do well, will have great futures ahead of them. Today we will start by brewing a very difficult potion. I believe I have mentioned it in past years. This potion is very difficult, and you will be working on it over the next month. At the end of the month, you will test your potions, and if it works correctly, you will have turned into someone else for a short period of time. That's right, you will be brewing the Polyjuice Potion." Harry looked up, not daring to believe his ears. Snape was teaching them the Polyjuice Potion? But he and Hermione and Ron had made this in their second year! Hermione was about to say something, but Harry nudged her.  
  
"Don't say anything-I need a good grade in Potions for a change. I haven't got a clue how I managed to get into this class, but I know that I'll need to pass it to be able to become an Auror, so don't mess this up, okay?" Hermione nodded.  
  
That hour in Potions went surprisingly fast. Perhaps it was because Harry had made the Potion before and knew what he was doing, but Snape did not once sneer at his potion or make comments about his pathetic work. Hermione and Harry emerged into the light at the end of the class, and headed up toward the Common Room.  
  
Ron was there waiting for them. He was looking at them anxiously, waiting for Harry to complain about Snape, but he didn't.  
  
"We made the Polyjuice Potion," Harry said.  
  
"What? But we made that in our second year!" Ron said.  
  
"Yeah, I know," Harry said, "so how did you spend your break?"  
  
"Dean and Neville and I played Exploding Snap," Ron replied.  
  
"Where did they go?" Harry asked, looking around and not seeing either one.  
  
"Dunno," Ron replied.  
  
Harry, Ron and Hermione sat in the Common Room until lunch. Harry decided that it would be smart to work on his Potions essay that Snape had assigned for homework, but for once Hermione wasn't doing homework.  
  
"What are you writing if it's not homework?" Ron asked.  
  
"A letter," Hermione replied.  
  
"You're not still in touch with Viktor Krum, are you?" Ron asked.  
  
"Maybe I am," she replied in an airy tone.  
  
"Why? He was a bit of an idiot, if you ask me," Ron said.  
  
"Oh, leave me alone! You never bother Harry when he writes letters," Hermione answered.  
  
"The only person Harry ever writes to is Sirius," Ron replied, "and I happen to like Sirius."  
  
"Well, I don't understand what you have against Viktor," Hermione replied.  
  
"I don't see why it matters! Will you both just shut up? I happen to want to pass Potions this year," Harry said. This silenced both of them. Harry finished his Potions essay about five minutes before lunch, and he and Ron decided to go ahead and walk to the Great Hall. Hermione remained in the Common Room to finish her letter.  
  
"I don't know what she sees in that Krum," Ron muttered.  
  
"I don't see why you care," Harry replied.  
  
"What? I don't care," Ron replied.  
  
"Sure seems like you do," Harry replied.  
  
"Oh, shut up! I don't care who Hermione dates, I just think she could do better than Krum," Ron said.  
  
"Like who? You?" Harry asked. Ron shook his head, but he was blushing furiously.  
  
"Well, what about you, then? You may think I'm stupid, but I'm not. I can tell that there's something going on," Ron said. It was Harry's turn to blush.  
  
"No, nothing's going on," Harry replied.  
  
"Am I supposed to believe that? Nothing between you and Cho?" Ron asked. Harry glanced across the hall and looked at the person Ron had been talking about. He quickly spotted her at the Ravenclaw table, but his stomach no longer did flips at the sight of Cho Chang. She was still very pretty, but it no longer mattered. Harry felt nothing anymore when he looked at her.  
  
"Cho? Nope. We broke up, and it's going to stay that way," Harry replied.  
  
"All right, then what about you and Parvati? You took her to the Yule Ball," Ron said.  
  
"That was two years ago, and it was because I needed a date for the dance because I was one of the Champions in the tournament. She's barely spoken to me since. Can you just stop? You're being ridiculous," Harry said. Ron acknowledged his defeat. There was no way he was going to get any information out of Harry.  
  
Lunch passed slowly. Hermione turned up at the very end, and she only grabbed a few bites before she ran back up to the Common Room, saying that she wanted to finish her letter before Defense Against the Dark Arts. Ron glared darkly at her as she left.  
  
"Don't say it," he shot at Harry, who had just opened his mouth.  
  
They walked to Defense Against the Dark Arts, laughing the whole way. Harry was glad to be back at Hogwarts after all.  
  
Melissa beamed at them when they walked into the classroom.  
  
"I can't believe I didn't guess where you were going," Harry said to his godmother.  
  
"I thought you had guessed," Melissa replied.  
  
"No, I had no idea. What happened to you being an Auror? And what about the Department of Mysteries?" Harry asked. Melissa glanced around to see that no one else was in the room yet.  
  
"Well, I quit my job in the Department of Mysteries. Dumbledore's got other people inside there. I still work as an Auror, though, but Dumbledore wanted to have one at Hogwarts, and I volunteered for the job. After all, Defense Against the Dark Arts always was my subject. It was the one thing I could beat your parents and Sirius in," Melissa replied with a small smile.  
  
"Oh. But why did you quit? Didn't you like your job in the Department of Mysteries?" Harry asked.  
  
"Not really. I only worked double jobs for all those years to get my mind off of things. After all, I deserved to be in Azkaban with Sirius. I offered to be the Secret Keeper, but then when Sirius came up with Pettigrew as a bluff I agreed. And then, when he went after Pettigrew, I should have been with him. He wouldn't let me go," she replied bitterly, "and I shouldn't have let him go. If I had stopped him, we probably still could have cleared him. After all, there wasn't so much evidence against him then. I guess you could say it was all my fault. I encouraged him to go after Peter. If I hadn't....." Melissa said.  
  
"He still would have gone," Harry said, "because that's the way Sirius is."  
  
"I suppose, but I still feel like there was something that I should have done," Melissa said.  
  
"My parents wouldn't have wanted you to blame yourself," Harry said.  
  
"They wouldn't have wanted me to, but they knew that I would find a way to somehow," Melissa said. She was about to say more, but other students began to come into the class.  
  
"Welcome, everyone, to Defense Against the Dark Arts. I am Professor Gumtree, for those of you who don't pay attention at the Feast," she added with a wicked grin. Harry glanced behind him at Malfoy, who was whispering something to Pansy Parkinson. Harry could just make out what he was saying.  
  
"That's the one I was telling you about. It's a pity she associated herself with such scum as Sirius Black, because my dad told me that Professor Snape has quite a high opinion of her. I don't understand why, though, because she must be pathetic, she's related to Potter," Malfoy said.  
  
"How?" Pansy asked, shocked. Harry was interested in what they were saying, although he felt bad that he wasn't listening to Melissa. Harry had an idea that Malfoy would taunt him with any information that he had, so he decided to be respectful to his godmum.  
  
"Over the next two years you will be learning some of the most useful spells in protecting yourself from Dark Wizards," Melissa was saying.  
  
"What makes you think you'll still be here next year?" Malfoy said loudly.  
  
"What was that? You're Mr. Malfoy, I presume," Melissa said. He nodded.  
  
"Yeah, that's me. I said what makes you think that you'll be here next year?" Malfoy repeated.  
  
"And why do you ask such a thing?" Melissa asked him.  
  
"Well, none of our Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers have ever lasted more than a year. The positions cursed," Malfoy said.  
  
"The position's not cursed, and I do intend to still be here next year," Melissa said, frowning at him. Harry wanted to hit Malfoy. It was Melissa's first day, and she was already getting trouble from him. Melissa looked as though she weren't quite sure where to continue.  
  
She had just opened her mouth to speak when Harry felt a searing pain in his scar. It was worse than it had been ever before. He fell to the ground, clutching his head. He felt weak, and he was wondering what had happened. Voldemort was very pleased about something. Harry was not quite aware of what was going on around him. The pain had passed, but Harry stayed on the ground. He could hear the noises around him now-Malfoy and the other Slytherins were laughing, Melissa was trying to calm down some of the panicking Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, and the Gryffindors were all gathered around Harry.  
  
"Are you all right, Harry? What's going on?" Melissa asked.  
  
"He's happy," Harry muttered. Melissa looked at him carefully. She didn't seem to understand what he meant. Then he saw recognition in her eyes.  
  
"I'll go talk to Dumbledore after class. Do you need to go to the hospital wing?" she asked. Harry shook his head. He resumed his seat, and tried to concentrate, but it was impossible.  
  
After class, Hermione and Ron ushered him off to a corner of the Common Room. Ron disappeared, and when he returned he had Ginny with him.  
  
"What's going on?" Ginny asked, looking at the three of them.  
  
"I was about to ask Harry the same thing. His scar started hurting really badly in Defense Against the Dark Arts," Ron explained.  
  
"Your scar? But that means that Voldemort...." Ginny said, her voice trailing off.  
  
"Ginny! I thought you had more sense than that!" Ron said, staring at his little sister.  
  
"Oh, come off it, Ron. It is just a name. Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself," she said. Harry couldn't help but grin at her. She grinned back, but then her face became concerned again.  
  
"What happened, though, Harry? Did you see anything? Any visions?" Ginny asked.  
  
"No, but I do know that he's very happy about something," Harry said.  
  
"Is that all you know?" Ron asked.  
  
"Yep, but my scar hasn't hurt like that in a very long time. I wonder what in the world he was so happy about," Harry said.  
  
"I dunno. Do you reckon we should ask Melissa if she's heard anything? Or should we write to Sirius?" Ron asked.  
  
"What if that's it? What if he's gotten Sirius?" Ron said. Harry thought about this, but without really knowing for sure, he felt that this was not what it was.  
  
"He was too happy for it just to be Sirius. And besides, it felt like he was further away than Headquarters," Harry said.  
  
"How do you know that?" Hermione asked.  
  
"I'm not sure," Harry said, "but I just know."  
  
There was a dark silence between the four, and they descended down to dinner quietly. People were chatting happily about their first day back, but Harry noticed that the staff table looked very subdued. Dumbledore met his eyes when he walked in, but he did not smile.  
  
A few minutes later, the hall had filled, and everyone was expecting the food to appear on the tables when Dumbledore rose.  
  
"Before you eat, there is something that I must bring to your attention. Today marks the true beginning of a horrible war to come. I was in my office earlier when I received an urgent owl from a friend of mine. This friend happens to be the headmaster of another school of magic, the School of the Sphinx. He informed me that his school was attacked earlier this afternoon by Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters." There were gasps around the hall. The nervous whispers quickly died when Dumbledore began to speak again.  
  
"The school was completely destroyed, and quite a few of the staff and students were either killed or badly injured by the attack. Many of those that remained unharmed have chosen to return to their homes. They believe they will be safer there. However, I have continually urged all of you to come together in the time of need, and today was my turn to practice what I preach. That means that tomorrow we will be joined by the remaining students and staff from the School of the Sphinx. I wish for all of you to be kind to them, and to welcome them to Hogwarts. I have a feeling that they will be here for quite a while," Dumbledore said.  
  
"With that, I leave you to your dinner," he said, finally sitting down.  
  
"Those poor people," Hermione muttered.  
  
"School of the Sphinx-that's in Egypt! What's Voldemort doing there?" Ron asked.  
  
"If he can attack that school, who's to say that he can't attack Hogwarts?" Hermione asked.  
  
"With Dumbledore here, we're safe. But-I have a bad feeling about all of this," Harry said.  
  
"Who wouldn't?" Ginny said quietly. 


	7. The Legend of Mary Slytherin

Harry Potter and the Students of the School of the Sphinx  
  
By Angelina Johnson  
  
Chapter 7  
  
The Legend of Mary Slytherin  
  
The next day seemed to go very slowly. At breakfast, Professor Dumbledore told them that the students from the School of the Sphinx would be arriving sometime during the morning classes. There was still an uneasy buzz around-everyone was afraid that if one school of magic was able to be destroyed, then so were the rest. Everyone else had voiced the same fear that Hermione had had last night-what if Hogwarts was attacked? Harry and Ron posed different questions, though.  
  
"Do you reckon they speak English?" Ron asked.  
  
"Dunno. I s'pose they must, if Dumbledore invited them here. He wouldn't ask people to come here if no one was even going to be able to understand them," Harry said.  
  
"But why would he want to attack the School of the Sphinx? What's there that he wants?" Ginny asked.  
  
"I haven't a clue. Where do you think they're going to sleep?" Ron asked.  
  
"Ron, there are more important things to worry about than where they're going to sleep! I think Ginny's on to something! Why would Vol-Voldemort want to attack this school?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Where they sleep is important. And don't say the name," Ron said.  
  
"Maybe they'll stay out on the grounds in something, like the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrangs did," Harry said.  
  
"I doubt it-Dumbledore made it sound like they're going to be part of our lives, and the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrangs kept to themselves. I don't think that the students from the School of the Sphinx will do that. They're going to be here too long," Hermione said.  
  
"The people during the Triwizard Tournament were here practically all year," Ron pointed out.  
  
"Yes, but......" Hermione said.  
  
"It doesn't matter. We'll find out in a little while regardless," Harry said.  
  
"Yeah. We better go ahead and go to History of Magic," Ron said. They bid farewell to Ginny and they headed off towards the History of Magic corridor.  
  
Ron and Harry were prepared to fall into the regular stupor of History of Magic class, but Hermione raised her hand to start things off.  
  
"Yes, Miss Grant?" Professor Binns, the ghost who taught History of Magic, said when he entered the classroom through the blackboard.  
  
"Well, Professor Binns, I was wondering if you could tell me about the School of the Sphinx," Hermione said.  
  
"The School of the Sphinx? Well, I suppose that would not interrupt my lesson plan too much," Professor Binns said.  
  
"Now, where to begin? The School of the Sphinx is located somewhere in Egypt. The exact location is not known, but there are rumors that the school is actually inside either the Great Pyramid at Giza, or inside of the Sphinx itself. Muggles think that these buildings are actually just things that were built by their ancestors, but really these were assembled by wizards and witches during the time of the Egyptian pharaohs. However, that does not relate to the school itself. The School of the Sphinx was created shortly after the founding of Hogwarts, and it was actually founded by Salazar Slytherin's sister. History says that originally Mary Slytherin was the one who had the idea for Hogwarts, and that originally Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Helga Hufflepuff were her friends. However, as Mary was many years younger, and her brother was their age, he was the one who took the concept to his powerful schoolmates, and he was the one who founded Hogwarts with the other three. Mary Slytherin stayed active in Hogwarts during it's first few years, but she was part of the reason that Slytherin and Gryffindor began to rift. While they argued over the pureblood nonsense, Slytherin allowed Gryffindor and the others to recruit half-bloods and Muggle-borns, as long as none of them were in his house. However, there was one thing that Salazar Slytherin would not stand for, and it was his sister turning soft. Mary Slytherin was Salazar's half sister, and in her veins ran veela blood. Salazar Slytherin despised her, and he believed that she was demon spawn. He did, however, watch out for her, and he saw things that he could not allow," Professor Binns said.  
  
"What does that have to do with the School of the Sphinx, though?" Ron asked. Hermione shot an angry glare at him.  
  
"You can read about Mary Slytherin later," Ron hissed. Hermione shook her head, but she turned her attention back to Professor Binns.  
  
"Ah, yes, the school. When Salazar Slytherin left Hogwarts, he forced Mary to leave with him. Mary was very angry. Salazar had taken away her ideas and her friends, and so much more. So she ran away from home and turned up in Egypt, where she founded a school of magic that she hoped would rival Hogwarts. However, while her school did set an excellent standard, it did not compare to Hogwarts," Professor Binns said.  
  
"But why did Mary Slytherin want to compete with her friends?" Seamus Finnigan questioned.  
  
"Couldn't she have just gone back to Hogwarts?" Lavender Brown asked.  
  
"Wouldn't Gryffindor and the others have welcomed her?" Parvati Patil wondered.  
  
"I do not understand the minds of half-human creatures, and I have spent enough time on this subject," Professor Binns said.  
  
"But why would You-Know-Who want to attack the School of the Sphinx?" Neville asked.  
  
"I don't know, Mr. Langford. I would have to guess, and then that would not be a fact, or history, so if we could please return to my lesson plan," he said. The class grew silent once again.  
  
After class, everyone looked around the halls on their way up to the tower, looking for a sign of someone from the School of the Sphinx.  
  
"I don't believe it! I thought that they'd be here by now. Where's Hermione gone to?" Ron asked. Harry shrugged.  
  
"Probably looking up Mary Slytherin," Harry said.  
  
"I never realized that old loony had a sister," Ron said.  
  
"Neither do most people," Hermione said as she returned. She was holding a very large book under her arms. Harry saw the title was in fading letters- "The Fantastic Four-Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor."  
  
"There's a whole chapter on Mary Slytherin. I've never read most of this, but I suppose it will tell us more about what Binns said. Aha! Listen to this. 'Mary Slytherin was the younger half-sister of Salazar Slytherin. She was half-veela, and her brother was ashamed to call her his sister because she was born to his father and a veela woman while his parents were married. Salazar Slytherin preferred not to have anything to do with his sister, or her three best friends, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Godric Gryffindor. However, Salazar was forced to come into close contact with them at school, where he was in the same year as them. Mary was actually four years younger than the others. In her final year at school, Mary came up with an idea to found a school of magic with her three best friends. She confided her idea in her brother, who then took the idea to Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. Without Mary, the four founded Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Mary Slytherin was angry with Salazar for stealing her idea, but she understood that her powers were not nearly as great as those of her brother and the other three, and she assumed that what had happened was for the best. However, once she graduated she joined the founders of Hogwarts and helped them in the early years of the school. However, arguments started to rise between Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin over the purity of blood of students. However, the argument was quickly settled, and Slytherin allowed the others to let Muggle-borns and half-bloods in, as long as they were not put into his house. However, Salazar Slytherin left the school briefly to join his dying mother, and while he was gone his younger sister was in charge of choosing the new students that were placed into Slytherin House. Mary Slytherin allowed Muggle-borns into the house that Salazar Slytherin prided on their purity of blood. When Salazar Slytherin returned, he was furious at his sister's 'softness,' and he threatened her with an ancient prophecy. Godric Gryffindor in particular defended Mary's actions, and he said that Mary had done the right thing and been open-minded. Slytherin was furious, and he used the Unforgivable Curses on his sister, and he controlled her mind. Salazar Slytherin forced his own sister to attack Rowena Ravenclaw, and then he refused to take the blame for Mary's actions. Salazar would have succeeded in forcing Mary to kill Rowena had it not been for Godric Gryffindor's intervention. Gryffindor threatened Mary, and said that if she ever returned to Hogwarts, he would kill her. Salazar Slytherin left shortly after his sister. The reasons why are unknown," Hermione said, finishing the passage.  
  
"Kill Ravenclaw? Why?" Harry asked.  
  
"I'm not sure, but I am sure that this prophecy may explain a few things," Hermione said.  
  
"Did you find it?" Ron asked. She nodded.  
  
"The prophecy says, 'The one will come. She will be of veela and demon, and she will be the sibling of a monster. She will be the one pure thing in a family of unclean. However, the monster will corrupt her, and the pure one will be deflowered by the lion before the coming of age. He will take down all of her barriers, and she will be weak and vulnerable. Her brother, angry by her happiness, will seek to destroy her happiness and her reputation. The monster will force her to become what he is, and she will harm one of the others. The lion will force her to leave their midst, and she will go to form another school. She will teach all kinds of creatures, and because of her downfall, a monster will rise. She allows the serpent, the monster, to live on, and a new, greater monster will come.' Greater monster?" Hermione asked, shuddering.  
  
"Voldemort, I reckon. That prophecy makes it sound like she could have killed her brother," Harry said.  
  
"She should have killed her brother. Her brother was a monster, and she was the only one that had the power to stop him. But she didn't. And that's why Voldemort rose. That's why your parents had to die. That's why so many others died. That's why Sirius spent 12 years in Azkaban. That's why Melissa spent fourteen years alone. That's why so many other bad things have happened-because Mary Slytherin was good, and she couldn't do what so many others would have gladly done. She couldn't kill," Hermione said.  
  
"She didn't know all of these bad things would happen. Besides, it wasn't just because she wouldn't kill her loony brother, was it?" Ron asked.  
  
"No. She let herself fall in love with Gryffindor. She let Slytherin go bad. She......" But what Hermione was going to say was lost in a flurry of excitement as Parvati and Lavender ran into the Common Room.  
  
"They're here! They've arrived!" Lavender squealed.  
  
"Where are they?" someone asked.  
  
"Dumbledore's taking them to their quarters. I hear he's turned the room of requirement into a place for them to live," Seamus added as he appeared through the hole in the wall.  
  
"Let's go have a look," Ron said.  
  
"No, Ron, we'll see them at lunch," Hermione said firmly.  
  
"Fine. I'll wait, just as long as we don't talk about Mary Slytherin anymore," Ron said. Hermione agreed.  
  
"I still want to know what was in the school that Voldemort wanted," Hermione said.  
  
"Maybe nothing. Knowing Voldemort, he just destroyed the place for fun," Harry said. Ron frowned at him.  
  
Finally, they went down to the Great Hall for lunch. The Great Hall had been rearranged to accommodate the new arrivals. There was a sixth table alongside the four House tables, and the staff table seemed larger than usual. Harry looked at the new table. All of the students from the School of the Sphinx were already sitting at the table. There were still at least eighty of them. From Dumbledore's description, he had imagined a much smaller number.  
  
"Dumbledore made it sound like there were only a dozen or two, not eighty," Ron muttered. Harry agreed. Most of the students looked older. He didn't see any that looked younger than 13 or 14. Most of the students were boys. Harry wondered why that was. Maybe the parents of the girls had been less eager to allow their children to stay under a staff that allowed the school to be destroyed. Harry saw that none of the students looked very happy. He could understand this. After all, their school was gone, and so were many of their friends.  
  
"I only see a couple of teachers," Ron pointed out. Harry glanced at the staff table, and sure enough there were only two unfamiliar faces. One was an old man with white hair and gray eyes. He had a beard, but it was nowhere near as long as Dumbledore's. The second staff member was a small blond woman with dark brown eyes. She was seated next to Melissa. The woman kept smiling at her, but Melissa only turned away and frowned.  
  
"Melissa doesn't seem real happy. She must know that woman," Ron said.  
  
"She does. The people from the School of the Sphinx during my Defense Against the Dark Arts class, and that blond lady came into our class. She and Melissa went outside to talk, but Melissa didn't look too happy when she came back in," Ginny said. Harry hadn't even realized that she had joined them.  
  
"Yeah, well, we had to listen to Binns drone on about some kook during History of Magic," Ron said.  
  
"I thought it was interesting for once," Harry said.  
  
"Yeah, the story of Mary Slytherin was interesting, but Binns left out the good parts, like when she attacked dear old Rowena Ravenclaw under her brothers control. We had to hear that from Hermione," Ron said.  
  
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Harry said as Dumbledore rose. Harry thought to himself that Dumbledore seemed to have made more announcements in the last three days than he had made all of last year.  
  
"I know that all of you are hungry, but before I give you your food I would like to give a warm welcome to our guests from the School of the Sphinx. They will be joining in some of your classes, as many of their professors chose to stay behind, and they will also have their own Quidditch team in this year's tournament. Instead of thinking of them as a different school, I would like you to consider them another house. I would also like you to consider their teachers to be your teachers. Professor Kristin Langley will be joining Professor Binns in teaching some of your History of Magic classes," Dumbledore pointed to the blond woman, "and Professor Frederic will be assisting me in some of my duties as headmaster." The white-haired man smiled slightly.  
  
"You may eat now," Professor Dumbledore added. He snapped, and the plates filled with food.  
  
"Their own Quidditch team? Do you reckon they're any good?" Ron said.  
  
"Who knows. Another house? This is insanity," Harry said.  
  
"Oh, boys, you need to be more open-minded! I think it will be fun having all these visitors here. They come from a much different place-there's so much we can learn from them!" Hermione exclaimed excitedly.  
  
"I don't want to be open-minded," Ron muttered.  
  
"It doesn't look like Melissa wants to be either," Harry said. Professor Langley had been talking to his godmother, looking very cheery, but Melissa still did not look very happy. Professor Langley continued to talk, though, and Melissa looked more and more upset with everything she said. Finally, his godmother got up and stormed out of the Great Hall.  
  
"Wonder what all that was about," Ginny whispered to Harry.  
  
"I dunno. Let's go find out," Harry said, and he and Ginny rose from their seats. They exited the Great Hall without Ron and Hermione even paying the slightest bit of attention-they were in another argument. 


	8. Quidditch

Harry Potter and the Students of the School of the Sphinx  
  
By Angelina Johnson  
  
Chapter 8  
  
Quidditch  
  
A week had passed since the students from the School of the Sphinx had arrived, and Harry was yet to meet any of them. He saw them in the hallways, and maybe it was just Harry's imagination, but they seemed to avoid him. Harry respected that they wanted their space, that they preferred to stick together, and he didn't go out of his way to talk to any of them. Draco Malfoy, however, had wasted no time in trying to befriend them. Ron said that Malfoy was trying to turn them against anyone that wasn't in Slytherin, but his plan didn't seem to be working. Harry had seen Draco come up to them in the halls and try to talk to them, but the members of 'Sphinx House,' as Dumbledore had told them to think of it, all seemed eager to get away from Malfoy.  
  
Harry, however, soon found that he had many other things to worry about. Even though he was caught up on his homework, he soon found that he had Quidditch tryouts to worry about. He and Ron were the only people left from last year's team, and since Harry was the captain, he was in charge of the tryouts. There were a lot of people who Harry didn't know very well who were trying out, and he had no idea if any of them were any good.  
  
The tryouts were due to begin, and Ginny was giving him the low-down on some of the people who were trying out.  
  
"Katherine and Caroline Luna are fourth years, and they sort of remind me of Fred and George-they're trying out for Beaters. They're pretty good, I've seen them play-they're Luna Lovegood's cousins or second-cousins or something like that. They're nothing fabulous, not yet anyway, but I think with some practice they could be great. Dean Thomas is trying out for Beater, too, and I suppose he's all right, but I don't know if he can compare to the Luna twins. Let's see, Colin and Dennis Creevey are both trying out to be Chaser, but I doubt that they're much good. Katie Bell's little brother Brett is probably good, he's only a third year, though, and so is Angelina's sister Andrea. Alicia Spinnet's cousin Ali Burke is trying out, but Alicia said that she's not a very good flyer," Ginny said.  
  
"Thanks for the help, Ginny. Just go out there and fly your best," Harry said as she joined the line of people trying out for Chaser.  
  
Ron stood beside Harry and helped him watch. First he had all of the hopefuls fly through an obstacle course. Ginny flew through it perfectly, as did Brett Bell and the Luna twins. Andrea Johnson also did a very good job, but Dennis and Colin Creevey both ran into just about everything in sight. Dean was a decent flyer, but he didn't have much experience, and it showed. There were a few others, but they didn't stand out of a crowd.  
  
After the obstacle course, Harry had all of them get back onto their brooms and play a scrimmage. They didn't release the Snitch, because there was no need, and Harry played Keeper as opposed to Seeker. Ron was the Keeper for the other time. On Harry's team were Ginny, Brett Bell, and Ali Burke as the Chasers, and the Beaters were Dean and a seventh year named Gary Crump. Ron had Andrea Johnson, the Creevey brothers, and the Luna twins. Harry tossed up the Quaffle and the Bludgers, and then he flew to guard the other set of goal posts.  
  
Once Ali Burke had a Quaffle in her hands, she was an excellent flyer, but the way she had flown the obstacle course had been alarming. Ginny continued to do a fantastic job, and Brett was almost as good as Katie Bell. He supposed that Brett had learned a few tricks from his older sister. Andrea Johnson was also an excellent flyer. She handled the Quaffle well, and she made smart passes. The Creevey brothers were, naturally, a disaster. Harry had already eliminated them from the competition. The day that Harry let them on the team would be the day that he and Draco Malfoy became friends. He was finding it much tougher, however, to choose three out of the other four.  
  
The Beater situation was much less difficult to decide. Gary Crump was a horrid flyer, although he was better than the Creevey's. Dean Thomas was decent, but he didn't hold a candle to the Luna twins, and even if Dean had been as good as they were, Harry doubted that the Luna's would perform as well if they weren't together. Harry decided that he would make Dean a reserve, as his abilities were respectable and he seemed enthusiastic enough.  
  
An hour later, after carefully watching the four remaining Chaser candidates, Harry was ready to make his decision. They had all done a very good job of flying, and Harry had easily chosen Brett Bell and Andrea Johnson. That had left the final spot between Ali Burke and Ginny. Harry carefully analyzed things. Ginny was a better flyer, but Ali had a slight edge when it came to handling the Quaffle. However, Ginny was more enthusiastic, she was older, and she had more experience, so Harry gave her the position, and he kept Ali as a Reserve. However, none of his decisions were final, so Harry decided to talk to Ron, and he promised the people who had tried out that he would let them know before tomorrow.  
  
"Well, what do you think?" Harry asked Ron. They were sitting together in the locker rooms once the tryouts were through.  
  
"Well, the Beaters are easy enough to decide. You'd have to be crazy not to take the Luna twins," Ron said.  
  
"Yeah, I agree. Dean did a decent job, though, and I was thinking I might keep him on as a Reserve, you know, just in case something happens," Harry said.  
  
"Yeah, good call. Dean's a nice guy, and he certainly tried hard. He'd be a good influence on the whole team, you know, since he's so relaxed," Ron said.  
  
"Yeah. Well, what'd you think about the Chasers?" Harry asked.  
  
"That's an easy one," Ron said.  
  
"Really? I was having a hard time deciding between the four of them," Harry said.  
  
"Oh, so you've already done the easy part. I just meant that you should totally nix the Creevey brothers. I wouldn't even consider either of them," Ron said. Harry agreed.  
  
"What about the others, though? I was thinking I should definitely take Andrea and Brett, but I was having a hard time deciding between Ginny and Ali," Harry said.  
  
"Yeah, you took the words right out of my mouth, you did. Look, you may think I'm just saying this because she's my sister, but I think that you should take Ginny. She's a good flyer, and I know that she's not a master at handling the Quaffle yet, but she'll get better. She learns fast. Besides, you can take Ali as a Reserve. She's only a second year, she'll have plenty of time to play once Ginny leaves," Ron said.  
  
"Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking, I just needed a second opinion," Harry said.  
  
"Good. Shall we go tell them, then?" Ron said.  
  
"Yeah. I'll take half, and you take the other half," Harry said.  
  
"Okay, but I don't want to be the one telling these people that they didn't make it," Ron said.  
  
"Oh, give me a break, Ron. I'll talk to the Creevey's, you know, tell them that they didn't make it, and you can talk to Gary and Dean. Don't forget that Dean's a Reserve. Then I suppose you can talk to Ali, Andrea, and Brett, and I'll talk to Ginny and the Luna's," Harry said.  
  
"Oh, no, I'll talk to the Luna's and Andrea, you can talk to Ali and Brett and Ginny. I don't want to have to tell Ali that she didn't make it, George'll kill me, you know, he dates Alicia. He'll probably come up here and turn me into a frog or something for not putting her cousin on the Quidditch team," Ron said.  
  
"Fine then. Let's go talk to them now before it gets too late," Harry said, and they were on their way out of the locker room when Harry bumped into someone. He fell to the ground with a thud, and saw that the girl he had run into had fallen as well. She had brown-blond hair, green eyes, and freckles, and she had a smile on her face. She appeared totally unafraid of Harry, unlike most of the other Sphinx students. Harry had seen her a couple of times in the halls before.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry," she said, quickly scrambling to her feet, "I wasn't watching where I was going."  
  
"Oh, no, it was my fault," Harry said, getting to his feet as well.  
  
"I'm Alexandria Evans. You can call me Alex," she said, offering her hand to Harry. He took it.  
  
"I'm Harry Potter," he replied, "and this is my friend Ron Weasley. We were just having Quidditch tryouts." Alex smiled even broader.  
  
"You play Quidditch too? I'm our Captain!" Alex exclaimed. She was very friendly.  
  
"Yeah, I'm the Gryffindor captain," Harry said.  
  
"Yeah, Captain, shouldn't you go back up to the Common Room and tell everybody who made the team? Or should I do it for you?" Ron asked.  
  
"Yeah, you go on, I'll be there in a minute," Harry said.  
  
"I was just coming down here to see what your Pitch was like. After all, the other four teams have an advantage of being used to the field," she said with a smile.  
  
"Yeah, I suppose so. You don't sound like you're from Egypt," Harry said bluntly.  
  
"Oh, I'm not, but my aunt Kristin teaches there, so she insisted that I go there instead of Hogwarts. It's a shame, really, I don't like the School of the Sphinx, or the people there, and they don't like me either," Alex said. The mention of Kristin Langley reminded Harry that he still needed to talk to Melissa. Perhaps he would have to do that before he went back to the Common Room.  
  
"Well, that explains why you don't look as me as if I'm the devil, or Voldemort or something else awful," Harry said.  
  
"Oh, don't mind them. They're all superstitious, and they're a bunch of dunderheads if you ask me. My aunt Kristin isn't exactly one of my favorite people, either. Sort of hard to get along with. My mum said that she disappeared for a long time after she graduated from Hogwarts, and the next they heard from her she was teaching at the School of the Sphinx. My mum doesn't really have anyone else, you know, Aunt Kristin is her only sibling, and Voldemort killed my dad, so Mum just listens to whatever Aunt Kristin says, even if it's telling me to go to the stupid school of hers. I guess there's nothing I can do about it anymore, though," Alex said, still grinning.  
  
"That doesn't seem very fair, though," Harry said.  
  
"My life's never been fair," Alex said sadly, "but I just laugh at it. It makes it a lot easier."  
  
"I sort of know how you feel. I mean, I had to live with my Muggle aunt and uncle for ten years after my parents died. I still have to stay with them during the summers. But they're the worst sort of Muggles possible. They treat me as if I'm scum, and if they're not ignoring me they're threatening to chuck me out. They hate everything that has to do with magic, and anything else that they think is abnormal. They treat me as if I'm a slave most of the time, and they used to starve me for like a week at a time. The only reason that things have gotten better the past couple of years is because of my godfather, Sirius Black. I forgot to mention the fact that he was innocent to them. They think he's some murdering nutter," Harry said. Alex laughed.  
  
"Good thinking. I've heard a lot about Sirius Black-both good and bad, mind, but he always sounded pretty cool to me," Alex said.  
  
"He is pretty cool. Well, I better go, Ron's not going to be happy if I make him talk to all of the people who were at try outs on his own," Harry said.  
  
"Yeah. I'm glad I met you, Harry. We need to talk again sometime," Alex said.  
  
"Yeah. I'd like that," Harry said, and he headed back up to the Common Room. He was greeted, however, just outside the front doors by Ginny.  
  
"Oh, Harry, Ron's just told me that I've made the team, oh, thank you so much!" Ginny exclaimed. She was jumping up and down happily, and she hugged Harry excitedly.  
  
"You deserved it. You were easily one of the best," Harry said, hugging her back. She felt so right in his arms. He felt like he could hold her forever, but he released her reluctantly. She was beaming.  
  
"Brett and Andrea were both better than me, I knew that much, but Ali and I were so close, and I was afraid that you would pick her, but oh Harry, you won't regret this, I promise, it means a lot to me!" she said.  
  
"It's no problem. After all, I took your spot. When I leave, you should take my spot as Seeker for the last year, and then Ali can be Chaser. You're a great Seeker, too," Harry said. Ginny smiled again.  
  
"You took the Luna's, then?" Ginny asked. Harry nodded.  
  
"No way around it, they were easily the best," Harry said. However, once they were done analyzing Quidditch, the usual silence fell.  
  
"Harry," Ginny began. Harry looked down at her.  
  
"Yes, Ginny?" he replied.  
  
"Well, I've been thinking about what happened on the train. A lot. And I just... I guess I don't really understand what happened, or why, but I do understand something. I like you, Harry, and even if that kiss meant nothing to you, it meant something to me, and I just need to know how you feel," Ginny said. All of her words came out very fast, and she seemed very nervous. Harry wasn't exactly sure what to say. Ginny liked him, she really liked him. Harry had wanted so much to hear her say that. His stomach fluttered and did flips again.  
  
"I like you too, Ginny," Harry said very softly, "I just..."  
  
"You just what?" Ginny asked, looking at him nervously.  
  
"It all seems so weird, though. Weird, but-right, somehow. Like, I dunno, like..." Harry stuttered.  
  
"Like this?" Ginny asked, and she kissed him gently. Harry felt as though something had exploded inside of him. Ginny wrapped her arms around him, and somehow, Harry's arms ended up around her as well. He felt himself kissing her back, and it was like fireworks were going off inside of him. They stood there for the longest time, just holding each other, kissing under the stars. Finally, very slowly, Ginny pulled away. Her arms were still entangled around Harry.  
  
"Oh, Lord, what is my brother going to say?" Ginny said, more to herself than Harry. Harry looked at her, and she was grinning. He couldn't help it-he grinned too. Before he could stop himself, he was kissing her again. This time he was the one who broke away.  
  
"Should we go back up to the Common Room?" he asked. Ginny looked as though she was thinking about it, but then she just kissed Harry again. Harry had never felt so happy. Every time he and Ginny kissed, every time that she wrapped her arms around him, even just when she was around him, Harry felt as though there were rockets going off inside of him. He liked that feeling.  
  
Finally, he and Ginny disentangled themselves and walked back up to the Common Room. They were talking and laughing about things again, and somewhere along the way Ginny's hand slipped into his.  
  
Harry grinned again. He glanced sideways at Ginny. She grinned, too.  
  
They reached the Common Room all too soon for their liking. Harry had already completely forgotten about his conversation with Alex Evans, and about his earlier resolve to talk to Melissa. Being around Ginny always made him forget things.  
  
"Let's not say anything to anyone else," Ginny whispered as they climbed through the portrait hole into the crowded Common Room.  
  
  
  
A/N: Heyheyhey everyone! Thank you so much for reading this story! It is only just beginning! I really appreciate reviews- I like knowing what you think I'm doing right and wrong. Anyways, you guys may not find out what's wrong with Melissa for a few more chapters, but I'll give you a hint-it has to do with Sirius! Well, enjoy, and remember, the more you review the sooner I write more! 


	9. Saying Hi To Hagrid

Harry Potter and the Students of the School of the Sphinx  
  
By Angelina Johnson  
  
Chapter 9  
  
Saying Hi To Hagrid  
  
The next couple of weeks passed by without much time to spare. Harry and Ron had a very light load of homework compared to last year, but they were spending plenty of time on it, making sure that they did every assignment perfectly. Hermione was pleased to see that they were finally taking their futures seriously, and she even offered to help them if they were ever stuck. Harry was shocked to find that he was actually getting good grades. He was also shocked to find that Hermione's grades were starting to slip some, and he was actually equal to her in all of his classes.  
  
"What exactly have you been doing that you aren't top in everything?" Ron asked her one night. Hermione shrugged.  
  
"Oh, come on, Hermione, we know that something is up," Harry said. Hermione glared at them.  
  
"I can't explain. But as long as my grades are still good, then what I'm doing is still more important," Hermione said. Harry shook his head. Now he had another thing to add to his list of things to do-find out what Hermione was up to. This was now on a very long list, along with talking to Melissa about why she acted so strange around Professor Langley, writing to Sirius, talking to Alex Evans in order to figure out why Voldemort had attacked the School of the Sphinx in the first place, visiting Hagrid, holding a meeting of the D.A., and figuring out what was going to happen with him and Ginny.  
  
Of course, on top of all of that, Harry still had Quidditch practice three or more days a week. The team was flying very well, and Harry was amazed by the chemistry that they seemed to have. However, Harry had heard rumors that the other teams were also excellent this year. Apparently Cho Chang had put together a very good Ravenclaw team, and Malfoy had made a very large Slytherin team. Harry wasn't sure how good they were talent wise, but if it was going on size then the Slytherin's would win hands down. Harry had also discovered that Alex Evans was a marvelous flier, and if the rest of the Sphinx team was even half as good as her, then the team would be tough to beat.  
  
Quidditch was the least of Harry's worries, of course. That night he was going down to visit Hagrid, along with Ron. They had asked Hermione to come along as well, but she had politely declined, saying that she had other things that she needed to do. Ron seemed disappointed, but he cheered up when they ran into Alex Evans in the hall. She said that she had to go to Quidditch practice in a little while, and Ron asked her if she wanted to go to Hagrid's with them for a few minutes before practice. She looked at Ron a little strangely, but then she smiled and agreed. Harry made sure that the Invisibility Cloak that he had brought along was safely tucked under his cloak-he didn't want Alex to discover it, but he had brought it along just in case.  
  
Harry had only talked to Alex a few times, but she seemed like someone worth knowing, and it would be good to have someone helping them who knew what was going on with the people from the School of the Sphinx. 'Ron doesn't seem to mind her too much,' Harry thought with a laugh.  
  
Finally, the three of them reached the other end of the lawn, and they knocked on Hagrid's massive door. After a moment's wait, the door swung open, and a very large man appeared before them. Hagrid smiled, his black eyes happy and glowing.  
  
"I been wonderin' when you lot would come see me. I haven't had much time to talk to ye in me class. But, where's 'Ermione?" Hagrid asked.  
  
"She's sorry she couldn't come, but she, er, had something else to do. She wouldn't tell us what," Ron said.  
  
"Ah, well, that's all righ'," Hagrid said.  
  
"And, er, who's yer frien'? I'm sorry, I know yer in one of me classes, but I haven' learned all the new names yet," Hagrid said.  
  
"This is Alex Evans," Harry said. Alex smiled and extended her hand to Hagrid. Hagrid took it.  
  
"I think I've heard of ye from some'un. Good things, mind ye," Hagrid said. Alex turned slightly red.  
  
"I don't know who could have told you that," Alex muttered.  
  
"Ye must be a good person if 'Arry and Ron here like ye," Hagrid said. Alex blushed even more.  
  
"Well, I need to go-Quidditch practice. It was nice to talk to you-I'll see you tomorrow, I guess," Alex said, and she quickly exited.  
  
"I like her," Ron announced. Harry rolled at his eyes.  
  
"I c'n tell," Hagrid snorted. Harry laughed.  
  
"I didn't mean like that!" Ron protested.   
  
"Sure you didn't," Harry muttered. Ron punched him playfully.  
  
"Anyways, I've been meanin' ter thank you lot for watching Grawpy while I was gone at the end o' las' year," Hagrid said, "I never quite got aroun' to it, what wit' certain events."  
  
"Oh, it was nothing, Hagrid," Harry said truthfully. Harry and Hermione had only been to see Hagrid's giant half brother once during Hagrid's absence, and that had not truly been on purpose, either.  
  
"Well, Harry, I been wantin' to talk ter ye since I foun' out abou' Sirius. Great thing, that. I'm gla' Melissa was there. I remember the two o' them from 'Ogwarts, of course, and you'd never see a funnier pair than the two o' them. I think it's on'y fitting that she was the one to save 'im. They always got along, ye know, not like yer parents. O' course, once they finally did get together, they got along great," Hagrid said. Harry couldn't help but smile a little bit. He always liked hearing Hagrid recall memories of his parents of their friends. Hagrid made it sound as if they had been happy and enjoying themselves, and Harry liked to know that.  
  
"Yeah, I was really shocked when I found out, and I think everyone else was too. When I left with Lupin and them, I was convinced that I would be back at Privet Drive in a matter of hours, and then I got to Headquarters and I saw Sirius, and my mind changed instantly," Harry said.  
  
"I'm glad te know yer happy, then. I heard abou' the weddin'," Hagrid said, "I'll be there, o' course."  
  
"What? What wedding?" Ron demanded. Harry had completely forgotten to mention it to Ron and Hermione.  
  
"Oh, I forgot to tell you! Sirius and Melissa are going to get married over Christmas break," Harry said. Ron stared at him in disbelief.  
  
"You forgot?" Ron asked incredulously.  
  
"Yeah, I mean, they told me and Ginny the night before we left, and I guess I haven't really had time to think about it," Harry said.  
  
"Yeah, I suppose you've just had too much on your mind. Geez, Harry, how can you let something like that slip? You used to tell us everything. I suppose Hermione doesn't know either?" Ron said. Harry looked at him.  
  
"Sorry," Harry said sheepishly.  
  
"It's okay, I understand. You better remember to tell Hermione, though, she usually isn't so understanding," Ron said, but Harry could tell that there was an iciness in his tone, and that he was a little miffed that Harry had forgotten to tell him something so important. Harry was about to apologize again when there was another knock on Hagrid's door.  
  
"Ah, Dumbledore!" Hagrid said as the old man walked.  
  
"Hello, Hagrid. Harry, Ron," he added, acknowledging the two boys.  
  
"I would like a word with Hagrid in private, if you boys don't mind? I'll only be a minute, I suppose you can stay if you like," Dumbledore said.  
  
"Oh, er, that's all right, we were just leaving," Ron lied quickly. Harry smiled apologetically, and he and Ron left through the back door. Harry pulled out the Cloak. He had an Extendable Ear, he could listen to what they were saying... He shook his head. That would be wrong. Ron, however, disagreed. He grabbed the Cloak, and pulled out his own Extendable Ear.  
  
"Go on up to the castle-I'll be there in a few minutes," Ron said.  
  
"All right," Harry said, and he headed back up to the castle quickly.  
  
Hermione was not anywhere to be found when he got back to the Common Room, so Harry sat down on his own in a chair by the fire. He was only alone for a minute before he was joined by Ginny.  
  
"Finally I'm done with all of that awful homework they've been giving me," she said, falling into the chair next to Harry. Harry grinned.  
  
"I remember it all too well," he said.  
  
"Do they think we'll remember more if they cram us with all of that extra work? I just end up forgetting everything because I have to do so much," Ginny said.  
  
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Harry said.  
  
"Hey, where are Ron and Hermione?" she asked, looking around.  
  
"Hermione didn't go with us to Hagrid's because she said that she had something else important that she needed to do. Would you believe that whatever it is that she's doing is more important to her than he grades? I've been getting the same scores as her," Harry said. Ginny grinned.  
  
"Ah, well, I'm sure she'll tell you what's going on soon," Ginny said, "I wish I knew."  
  
"And Ron's still down at Hogwarts. Dumbledore showed up and pretty much asked us to leave, but Ron stayed behind with my Invisibility Cloak and one of the twins' Extendable Ears," Harry explained.  
  
"I hope Dumbledore doesn't figure out what he's doing. That's a bit stupid of him, if you ask me, Dumbledore always seems to know more than he lets on," Ginny said.  
  
"Yeah, that's why I decided not to stay, but oh well. Dumbledore said that he would only be a minute, so Ron should be back shortly," Harry said.  
  
Sure enough, it was only a couple of minutes before Ron appeared through the portrait hole.  
  
"You're not going to believe this, Dumbledore wants Hagrid to go back to the giants, Madam Maxine, too! He's still nutty enough to think that the giants will join us! Didn't last time show him ANYTHING?" Ron asked.  
  
"Well, if Dumbledore thinks that Hagrid should do it, then I reckon he should," Ginny said.  
  
"But what about last time? He could have died!" Ron said.  
  
"But he didn't," Ginny pointed out, but Harry privately agreed with Ron.  
  
"Madam Maxine will be with him, at least," Harry said, trying to make the situation not seem so bad.  
  
"If Hagrid can't take care of himself, then no one can," Ginny said, "I mean, look at all the creatures he's handled. Think of Fluffy, and Norbert, and Buckbeak and the Blast-ended Skrewts!" When Ginny put it like this, it did seem a bit better. At least, Harry tried to tell himself that.  
  
The three of them stayed in the Common Room waiting for Hermione. Everyone else had already left and gone to bed when she finally appeared.  
  
"Where have you been?" Ron asked her.  
  
"Doesn't matter, but I spoke to Melissa, and she says that we ought to be by the fire at one a.m.," Hermione said.  
  
"You mean Sirius is coming?" Ron asked.  
  
"She didn't say, but I don't know what else it could be. It's nearly one, we'll find out in a moment," Hermione said.  
  
"You were right, partly. Sirius is here, but he's not alone," a voice said. The four of them turned around, startled. They looked into the fire, and they saw not one, but three heads in the fire.  
  
"Oh, good, I've been meaning to write to all of you," Harry said, smiling at Sirius, Remus and Julie in the fire.  
  
"You three are nutters, you know that? Everyone knows that you're innocent now, couldn't you have just sent a letter or come to visit Melissa or something?" Ron asked.  
  
"That's no fun, though. We've never been exactly conventional, now have we, Moony?" Sirius asked. Remus nodded.  
  
"Just doing things the normal way would be boring. Even Julie agrees," Remus said, "right, Julie?"  
  
"Oh, I suppose this is quite fun," Julie conceded.  
  
"Why are you here, though?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Oh, well, we wanted to talk to Harry. You've been being careful, and I'm glad, but things are only going to get worse, Harry. There have already been more attacks since the School of the Sphinx was destroyed. But, we'll be pleasant first, I suppose," Sirius said.  
  
"Who's been attacked? What's been happening?" Harry asked immediately.  
  
"Ah, we'll get to that later," Sirius said.  
  
"Yes, how do you like the people from the School of the Sphinx? What are they like?" Remus asked.  
  
"I'm not exactly sure, none of them seem too keen to talk to me. The one I have talked to is nice, though, but she says that she's not like the rest of them, so I guess that's not very promising," Harry said.  
  
"Really? What about the Professors? What are they like?" Julie asked.  
  
"Dunno, only two of them came, and I haven't talked to either one of them, so I have no idea what they're like. I get the feeling Melissa doesn't like Professor Langley that much, though," Harry said.  
  
"Langley?" Julie said.  
  
"Kristin Langley?" Sirius echoed.  
  
"Yeah, I think that's her name, why, do you know her?" Harry asked.  
  
"Know her? Do we know her?" Sirius roared. Julie tried to silence him.  
  
"Oh, Sirius, really! She never did anything to you," Julie said.  
  
"Now, I think both of you are wrong. She made a mistake, Sirius, but she wasn't exactly the nicest person I knew, either, Julie," Remus said.  
  
"A mistake? A mistake? She didn't make a mistake, she did it on purpose! I'm the one who made the mistake by listening to that ("Sirius!" Julie exclaimed). I almost threw everything away because I trusted her," Sirius said angrily.  
  
"Well, I suppose that was rather mean of her, but can't you forgive her?" Julie asked.  
  
"No!" Sirius replied. Remus shook his head.  
  
"Kristin was another of our friends at Hogwarts," Remus tried to explain.  
  
"Maybe she was your friend, but she certainly wasn't mine!" Sirius said.  
  
"Your mother and I were friends with her, Harry, dear," Julie said.  
  
"Melissa, too?" Harry asked.  
  
"Er, no, not really," Julie said.  
  
"And can you blame her?" Sirius asked.  
  
"I think I'd best take him back. Maybe you should stay and tell them what's happened," Remus said. Sirius appeared to be struggling, but after a moment he and Remus both disappeared.  
  
"Ah, yes, well, the attacks. I thought that you all should know-the Spinnets have been killed," Julie said grimly.  
  
"What?" Ginny said in shock.  
  
"All of them?" Ron asked.  
  
"I'm afraid so," Julie replied.  
  
"But why?" Ron asked, "what did he want from the Spinnets?"  
  
"Well, the Spinnets were opposing him, and Mr. Spinnet had a fairly high position in the Ministry, but that's not why Voldemort went after them. They were the Secret Keepers for the Blakes, but I'm not sure if you've heard of them," Julie said.  
  
"I have. Dad's told us about them. Tara works in his department at work, and her dad, doesn't he act as a mediator between Fudge and the American Minister of Magic?"  
  
"Yes, yes, that's right," Julie said.  
  
"But what did he want from the Blakes?" Ron asked.  
  
"Inside information, I suppose. The Spinnets refused to tell where they were, though, so he killed them. Horrible, it was," Julie said.  
  
"I can't believe it," Harry muttered.  
  
"Well, I need to go. I'll keep you informed, and remember, be careful," Julie warned, and she disappeared as well.  
  
"George must be devastated," Ron muttered.  
  
"Yeah. I can't believe this. Voldemort has to be stopped," Ginny said.  
  
"We'll stop him, I swear my life on it," Harry said. 


	10. The First Answer

Harry Potter and the Students of the School of the Sphinx  
  
By Angelina Johnson  
  
Chapter 10  
  
The First Answer  
  
The news of the Spinnets deaths had hit Harry and his friends hard. They had realized that the war was starting, and with it would come the attacks on innocent people, but they had not quite been ready for people they knew to be attacke.d Harry remembered just a few months ago, seeing Alicia smiling and laughing with Katie Bell and Angelina Johnson, seeing her play Quidditch, and study. He remembered her and George over the summer, when George had brought her to Grimmauld place. It was hard to think that the cheerful young girl was now dead at the hands of Voldemort.  
  
Harry and his friends had been doing the best to push the unpleasantness from their minds-they wanted to at least try and enjoy themselves at school, but it was hard with Voldemort attacking at such a rapid rate. It had seemed like he had just destroyed the School of the Sphinx, and now he had killed the Spinnets and who knows how many others.  
  
Hermione seemed the most affected. Ginny and Harry had found this just a little strange, on account of Hermione hadn't known Alicia very well at all. Harry had been on the Gryffindor Quidditch team with her for five years, and Ron and Ginny had talked to her often because of George, but Hermione had only spoken to Alicia a couple of times.  
  
Hermione's strange reaction had only posed more questions for Harry. He knew that Hermione was doing something top secret, and he was wondering if this perhaps had something to do with her extreme reaction to Voldemort's latest attack.  
  
Harry had no time to dwell on this, however, because he had planned a meeting of the D.A. for tonight. It could no longer meet in the Room of Requirement, since this was were the Sphinx house now was, but Harry had gotten permission from Dumbledore to continue the club, and the meetings were now to be held in the Great Hall. Many of the members from last year were still involved, including (to Harry's surprise) Cho Chang, and there were also some new members, including Alex Evans. She was the only person from the School of the Sphinx who Harry had asked to join, but she had promised that she would bring along some others who she thought would be interested.  
  
"Voldemort attacked our school, or have you forgotten? I think some of them will be very interested in this D.A. of yours," Alex had told him.  
  
Dumbledore had allowed them to be unsupervised as long as nothing got out of hand-the first sign of anything going wrong, though, and Dumbledore said that he would have to find an advisor for the group.  
  
Harry went down to the Great Hall just before eight, and he was surprised to find that it was already very crowded. True to her word, Alex had brought at least four or five people from the School of the Sphinx. She smiled at Harry and Ron as they walked in.  
  
"All right, it's good to see all of you here," he said as he scanned the crowd, trying to find Hermione. She wasn't there.  
  
"I know that I taught you a lot of things last year, but since we have new members and many of you probably forgot things over the summer, so I suppose we should start by reviewing a little bit. Can anyone tell me some of the things we went over last year?" Harry asked. He wasn't used to conducting the meetings on his own. Where in the devil was Hermione?  
  
Cho Chang's hand shot up, and she answered, "Disarming."  
  
"The Patronus Charm," Ginny said.  
  
"Stunning spells," Neville added. A few other people added to the list, and it grew longer. Finally, Harry silenced them.  
  
"Tonight we'll start easy-we'll go over disarming, leg-lockers, and body binds. We won't spend much time on them, because most of you have already learned them," Harry said, and they proceeded. The meeting went well. Ron helped him pay attention to the students that seemed to be struggling (there were only a couple), but Ron always seemed to end up helping Alex. This was strange to Harry, since Alex appeared to be doing all of the spells perfectly, and he had heard from her instructors that she was great at all kinds of magic. Then again, with the way that Ron looked at Alex, he wasn't surprised after all.  
  
After an hour and a half, Harry dismissed them, promising them that there would be another meeting very soon. Harry tried to find Ginny in the throng of people leaving, but instead he was stopped by Cho Chang.  
  
"Harry, can I talk to you?" she asked him quietly. Harry nodded nervously. It wasn't the same kind of excited nervousness that he had felt in the past, it was more of an awkward nervousness.  
  
"Look, I just wanted to apologize for the way I acted last year. Some of the things I said and did, they were, well, out of line," Cho said. She looked up at him through her large eyes.  
  
"Er, that's all right, last year wasn't exactly the best for me. I mean, things still aren't great, you know, but I sort of have my temper more under control and such, and there's less pressure since I don't have O.W.L.'s this year. Plus, Umbridge is gone, so that's a plus," Harry said. He realized that he must sound pretty stupid, but he didn't care anymore.  
  
"Oh, well, that must be a relief, I'm sure," Cho said.  
  
"Yeah, it is," he said, trying to steer the conversation in a different direction, possibly a direction that would end it all together. Harry did not want to be here, talking to Cho, he wanted to be anywhere but here. He wished that he were with Ginny right now, or talking to Sirius, or anywhere, with anyone but Cho.  
  
"Harry, I just want you to know, that, well, I still like you, and I know I've made mistakes, but I think that we should try again," Cho said. She looked at him pleadingly.  
  
"Er, well, that's nice of you and all, and I really like you as a person, but, well, I... There's sort of someone else. Sorry," he said. Cho stared at him.  
  
"Oh. Oh, okay, I understand. Is it your precious Hermione?" she asked mockingly.  
  
"No," Harry said, glaring at her. She was acting oddly again, jealous and bitter, the same way that she had last year. This was the reason that they had broken up, but Harry found that he really didn't care. His mind had not changed about her, and he couldn't understand why in the world her feelings would have changed about him.  
  
"I'll see you at the next meeting, then," Cho said and she stormed out, slamming the Great Hall doors open and stomping away.  
  
Ginny walked in the doors that were still open from Cho's angry exit.  
  
"I heard everything with the Extendable Ears. I'm nosy, I know, but I couldn't resist," Ginny said.  
  
"That's okay, I don't mind that you heard. I wasn't quite sure what that was going to be about, and I don't know why she changed her mind, or what made her think I had changed mine," Harry said.  
  
"Yeah, I hear there's someone else," Ginny said teasingly. Harry grinned at her.  
  
"Yeah, I heard that too," Harry said, and she burst out laughing. Harry laughed with her, but as he laughed he pulled her close to him. She laughed into his chest, and then finally when she was done laughing, she leaned up and kissed him. It was a quick kiss, but it was enough to make Harry feel like there was an explosion inside of him. He had discovered that he rather liked that feeling, just as he rather liked Ginny. He leaned down and kissed her longer this time. They broke apart again, each gasping for air, both laughing again. Ginny was red, and Harry was sure that he was too. Whether it was from laughing or because they were blushing, he wasn't sure. Their lips had just met again when the Great Hall door pushed open, and a redheaded figure walked in.  
  
"Bloody hell, what's going on?" Ron asked. Harry and Ginny jumped apart guiltily, but they both knew that they had been caught in the act, and there was no way around this one.  
  
"Er, nothing," Ginny said. She was definitely blushing now, and she was redder than Harry had ever seen her before. He felt his own cheeks burning as well.  
  
"Don't worry, I'm not mad. I actually suspected something like this. Hermione said that I was being silly. For once, I was actually right," Ron said.  
  
"You mean you're really not mad?" Harry asked.  
  
"Nope. I figured some idiot has to go with Ginny, and I'd just as soon that idiot be you," Ron said.  
  
"That's not how I expected you to react at all," Ginny said.  
  
"I surprised myself," Ron said.  
  
"Then that makes three of us," Harry said.  
  
"I think it's bloody brilliant, to be honest," Ron said. Ginny stared at him, still not believing that he was taking this so well.  
  
"Come on, let's go, we need to find out what's going on with Hermione. She wasn't even at the meeting-not that I mind, she would have been teasing me the whole time," Ron said.  
  
"About what? Alex?" Harry asked. Ron grinned.  
  
"Well, yeah. I mean, it's pretty obvious that I like her, I mean, even Hagrid could tell," Ron said.  
  
"Yeah, you're right about that," Ginny said.  
  
"So, anyways, we need to find her. Maybe now she'll answer some of our questions," Ron said. The three of them trudged back up to the Common Room. When they got there, Hermione was nowhere to be found, so they sat in three empty chairs and waited.  
  
And waited.  
  
And waited.  
  
The Common Room was already empty when Hermione appeared through the portrait hole. She was stumbling slightly, and she looked very tired. She staggered over, and slumped into a chair near Harry. Then she buried her face in her hands.  
  
"Hermione, what's wrong?" Harry asked. She shook her head.  
  
"Hermione, you have to tell us what you've been doing. First you miss the D.A. meeting, and then you show up well past midnight. You look exhausted, or drained or something, and you seem really upset about something. We're your friends, Hermione, we need to know what's up," Ron said. Hermione peeked at them through her fingers.  
  
"Fine? You want to know what I've been doing? You want to know why I've been missing meetings, and why my grades are slipping? You want to know why I'm so tired, why I'm drained, and why I always come in so late? Fine, I'll tell you," Hermione said angrily, her hands now in her lap.  
  
"You're really going to tell us?" Ron asked in disbelief.  
  
"Yes, I suppose so. I mean, you'll bug me until I tell you anyways," she said.  
  
"Well, what is it, then?" Ginny asked.  
  
"I've been helping McGonagall and a few of the other teachers that are in the Order. They need someone who can focus their magic in order to watch Voldemort. They think that if they can keep a close enough eye on him and his Death Eaters, then maybe they can prevent some of his attacks. That's how the Blakes knew that Voldemort was after them, because I've been watching them. I mean, we have Snape and a few other spies inside of his Death Eaters, but Voldemort doesn't tell them all of his biggest plans because he knows that they are connected to Dumbledore. He trusts them with some things, but not with all things. Anyways, I've been seeing through some of the Death Eaters, because I have more strength than most of the teachers. They're not as young as they used to be, after all, and this spell, in order to be the most effective it's possible for it to be, needs someone like me, with a lot of power and energy. So that's what I've been doing, and oh, Harry, it's so tiring, and I feel like I'm failing all of these people! I saved the Blakes, but because of me the Spinnets are dead, and oh, Harry, it's just too much, and he has worse things planned, he's got something horrible planned, but no one knows what it is, none of his Death Eaters even! Harry, it's so frightening, and I don't understand how you can deal with so much pressure! It's too much for me, I can't do it!" Hermione said.  
  
"You've been seeing Voldemort and hearing his plans?" Harry asked in disbelief.  
  
"Yes, but oh, oh, it's horrible," Hermione said. She looked close to tears.  
  
"Then don't do it anymore, Hermione! Tell McGonagall that you can't take it," Ron said.  
  
"That would be so selfish of me, though! These people need me. If I don't look at all of Voldemort's plans, then so many more people will suffer! My suffering doesn't matter, as long as I'm helping other people," Hermione said. Ron stared at her. She seemed so determined, even though she was exhausted and drained.  
  
"Well, in that case I'd say that you need some sleep," Ginny said.  
  
"Yes, we'll talk more some other time. Right now you need rest," Harry agreed.  
  
"Is there any way that we can help? Maybe take some of the responsibility off of you?" Ron asked.  
  
"Oh, Ron, that's so sweet of you to offer, but I have to do this alone," Hermione replied as Ginny helped her up to her dorm.  
  
"That's heavy stuff, that is," Ron said.  
  
"Yeah, I can't believe she's doing all of that on her own. I don't know that I'd be able to handle that," Harry said.  
  
"Oh, shut up, of course you would be able to handle it, who are you kidding?" Ron asked.  
  
"I dunno, Ron, that takes a powerful witch to do something like that. You heard Hermione, there's no way for us to help, she has to do it on her own. I'm sure she knew we would want to help once we found out, you can bet that she asked the teachers, and obviously they said no," Harry said.  
  
"Yeah, I guess you're right about that. Hermione has been going out of her way to make sure that you aren't left out of things since you blew up at us last summer," Ron said.  
  
"That's ridiculous, she knows I didn't mean any of that," Harry said.  
  
"Liar. You know that you meant every word." Just then, Ginny came back down.  
  
"She really was exhausted, she's already sleeping like a baby," Ginny said.  
  
"That was fast," Ron said.  
  
"Yeah, but before she fell asleep, she was muttering something. I think she said 'the one will come. She will be of veela and demon, and she will be the sibling of a monster. She will be the one pure thing in a family of unclean. However, the monster will corrupt her, and the pure one will be deflowered by the lion before the coming of age. He will take down all of her barriers, and she will be weak and vulnerable. Her brother, angry by her happiness, will seek to destroy her happiness and her reputation. The monster will force her to become what he is, and she will harm one of the others. The lion will force her to leave their midst, and she will go to form another school. She will teach all kinds of creatures, and because of her downfall, a monster will rise. She allows the serpent, the monster, to live on, and a new, greater monster will come.' I think that's some sort of prophecy or something," Ginny said.  
  
"It is," Ron said, looking alarmed.  
  
"It's the one about Mary Slytherin. Has nothing to do with us," Harry said, remembering it.  
  
"Yeah, that's not all. She said, 'they live again, they live in us. It is only a matter of time before they show themselves. The time will come, and all.... All will be lost.' Weird, huh?" Ginny said. She had not been there when Hermione had told them about Mary Slytherin.  
  
"They live again?" Harry asked.  
  
"Bloody hell, I'd say that we're going to have a problem," Ron said.  
  
"I don't understand it, but it doesn't sound too good, does it?" Ginny asked.  
  
"I'd have to agree," Harry said sadly. 


	11. Kristin Langley

Harry Potter and the Students of the School of the Sphinx (11/?)  
  
By Angelina Johnson  
  
Chapter 11  
  
Kristin Langley  
  
Harry and his friends had no idea what was going on as far as Hermione's mystifying words. She had said that it was only a matter of time before they showed themselves, but who were they? As far as Harry knew, 'they' had not showed themselves yet.  
  
That meant that instead of shortening his list of questions, he had added to it. He may know what Hermione was up to, but now they didn't understand the prophecy that she had made. Was Hermione a Seer? Or had she just been reciting something that she had read somewhere? Harry had told her about what she had said, but she couldn't remember reading the last bit everywhere.  
  
"I'm just as mystified as you are, Godric," Hermione had said. Harry stared at her.  
  
"Godric? Hermione, are you okay? I'm Harry," he had said.  
  
"What? I said Harry, didn't I?" she had asked.  
  
"No, you definitely just called me Godric," Harry said.  
  
"Harry, I think I may understand something! I have to go talk to Dumbledore!" Hermione said, and she had bolted from the Common Room. Ron and Ginny were nowhere to be found, and Lavender and Parvati were paying an awful lot of attention to him lately. It made him uncomfortable when they did this, so he decided that he should go talk to Alex or Melissa. He still had things he needed to find out from them. Perhaps Alex could tell him why Voldemort would have a reason to want to get into the School of the Sphinx, and maybe Melissa would be able to explain why she and Sirius didn't like Kristin Langley. After all, she was related to Alex, how bad could she be? However, Harry did remember a few choice comments that Alex had made. " My aunt Kristin isn't exactly one of my favorite people... Mum just listens to whatever Aunt Kristin says, even if it's telling me to go to the stupid school of hers." That was enough to suggest perhaps she wasn't as friendly as she seemed, but then Harry recalled the strange conversation he had heard in the fire... "She made a mistake, but she wasn't exactly the nicest person I knew, either..." Remus had said. "I almost threw everything away because I trusted her," he recalled Sirius saying, "Maybe she was your friend, but she certainly wasn't mine!" Harry didn't understand-the only people Harry had ever seen Sirius so upset at the mention of were Peter Pettigrew and Snape. Harry decided that it was more important to know what Voldemort had wanted, though, so he went looking for Alex.  
  
However, he changed his mind as he was walking past Melissa's office when he saw that Kristin Langley was leaving her office, smirking. Harry went up to the door, which was slightly ajar, and knocked. Melissa gave no answer, but he heard stifled sobs from inside the room, so he pushed the door open and closed it behind him.  
  
"Oh, hello, Harry dear," she said, forcing a smile. There were tears in her eyes.  
  
"Melissa, what's wrong?" Harry asked.  
  
"Oh, nothing, I'm fine, Harry, really," she said, but the tears continued to flow down her face.  
  
"Do you want me to get Sirius or Julie or someone?" he asked her, unsure. He glanced at the fire, and saw that there was a pot of Floo Powder.  
  
"No! No, they wouldn't understand. Especially not Julie, she's friends with the slimy, evil git," Melissa said bitterly.  
  
"Snape?" Harry asked hopefully.  
  
"No, someone slimier, eviler..." Melissa replied, still in tears.  
  
Harry glanced at her. She had told him not to get somebody, but he knew that she needed someone to talk to, someone that would understand, perhaps. Harry had tried to cheer her up by asking her if it was Snape, but he knew, from the fact that Kristin had just left, that he could only be talking about her. Harry looked at her, and then he grabbed a pinch of Floo Powder and stuck his head in the fire.  
  
"Number 12, Grimmauld Place," Harry shouted, and he felt his head spinning. His head arrived on the other end, in the kitchen, and luckily Sirius was at the kitchen table, finishing his lunch.  
  
"Harry!" Sirius exclaimed, seeing him in the fire, "Is there something wrong?" Harry nodded.  
  
"I'm not exactly sure, but Melissa seems really upset about something, and I don't know what, and she won't tell me, but I doubt that I would understand anyway," Harry said.  
  
"Do you ever think? Just stick your head in the fire when you need me, you broke the mirror, you prat, but I'm coming anyway. Go back, and I'll be there in a moment," Sirius said, shaking his head at Harry.  
  
Harry came through on the other side, and he was joined shortly by Sirius, who, despite trying to act angry with Harry for his rashness, looked upset.  
  
"What's wrong?" Sirius asked, looking at her with concern in his eyes. He reached out to touch her, but she pulled away.  
  
"She's going to do it again, oh, Sirius, please don't let her, I don't want to lose you, I don't want you to not love me anymore, oh please, Sirius, don't let her fool you again, don't let something come between us, I need you, you're the only person that I care about, and if I lost you I'd lose everything, oh, Sirius, please, please don't let her, I don't want you to not love me anymore," she sobbed. She was ranting, and Harry had no idea what she was going on about, but Sirius seemed to understand. He took her into his arms, and rubbed her back soothingly.  
  
"Please don't cry, I don't understand what you're going on about. I've never not loved you, Melissa, and that's not going to change, but please, I need you to tell me what's going on," Sirius said.  
  
"Yes, you did, you didn't love me and it was because of her! Sirius, I don't want to lose you, oh, please don't leave me, Sirius. She lied, please don't believe her again, please, please, I'm sorry that she made you think that, it wasn't true, oh Sirius," she sobbed.  
  
"What do you mean, because of her? Because of who? Melissa, what's going on? Who's been putting these stupid doubts in your head?" Sirius asked. Harry was aware of the fact that he probably should not be here, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to leave. Neither one of the adults were acknowledging him, and Harry wanted to understand what was going on.  
  
"The same person who put doubts in yours over twenty years ago! Isn't it always her? She always came first, to everyone, and she always will!" Melissa said. Sirius stared at her. He still looked puzzled, but then there seemed to be recognition in his eyes.  
  
"You can't possibly mean-not-Kristin?" Sirius asked in horror.  
  
"Yes, Kristin," Melissa said, and she sobbed even more. Sirius tried to console her, but she seemed extremely upset over whatever it was that she was talking about.  
  
"I need you to stop crying, Melissa, then we can talk about this rationally. And I'll promise you something. Kristin can put any doubts in your head that she likes, you can doubt anything, but you cannot doubt that I love you more than anyone else in the world. You were the only reason I stayed alive in Azkaban, you were the only thing that kept me human. You're one of the only people left that I care about, and I need you, maybe even more than you need me. Kristin can feed you all the lies that she pleases, but she's wrong, and you have to know that," Sirius said. Melissa looked up at him through still-teary eyes.  
  
"Do you mean that?" she asked doubtfully.  
  
"Of course I mean it," he said.  
  
"Oh, Sirius," she said, and she buried her head in his chest. Then she looked up at him again.  
  
"She's horrible! I don't think that I can put up with her. Sirius, I had tried to forget, and then she has to go and bring it up again, and she said that she had power over me, and that she could take away everything that I loved, just like she almost did before," Melissa said.  
  
"I wouldn't have let her. I made that mistake once, Melissa, but I'm never going to trust her again, and I know better than to lose you again," Sirius said. Then he looked at Harry.  
  
"I suppose you should understand this," Sirius said. Melissa looked at Harry.  
  
"Good lord, I'd forgotten you were here, Harry! I suppose you ought to understand, though, it only makes sense. Besides, you have a way of finding out things that you want to know," Melissa said.  
  
"So you're going to explain to me? I don't want to upset you, though," Harry said.  
  
"Explain? Oh, of course not, I'll let you see for yourself," she said, and she pulled something shiny out from under her desk.  
  
"A Penseive?" Harry asked. Melissa nodded.  
  
"I suppose I should see as well," Sirius said. Melissa looked at him oddly.  
  
"I'd tried to forget as well," Sirius said.  
  
"I can't imagine why," Melissa said sarcastically.  
  
"In fact, perhaps I should put some of my memories into the Penseive as well, let Harry get the full picture," Sirius said. Melissa nodded, and Sirius put his wand to his temple. A silver stand shot from him into the bowl.  
  
"All right, let's watch this and get it over with," Melissa said.  
  
The three of them looked into the bowl, and Harry felt himself falling into the memories. He looked around, and saw that Sirius and Melissa were with him as well.  
  
Harry looked around. He was in the Gryffindor Common Room, and it didn't look much different. Only the people in the room would reveal that Harry was in Melissa and Sirius's memory.  
  
Harry saw a handsome boy with black hair and a wicked grin, and realized that it was a sixteen year old Sirius. He was headed straight toward a group of girls sitting in the corner. Harry looked at them closely. One had curly auburn hair and green-brown eyes, the second had brown hair and blue eyes, and the third had red hair and green eyes. Harry realized that these three must be his mother, Julie and Melissa. Sirius was only a short distance away from them when a small blond girl came up to him. Harry had never seen pictures of her, but he was sure that it was Kristin.  
  
"Sirius, I need to talk to you!" she exclaimed.  
  
"Can it wait, Kristin? I need to talk to Melissa about something," he said.  
  
"Asking her to the dance?" Kristin asked.  
  
"Maybe," Sirius said. Kristin shook her head.  
  
"That's why you need to listen to me, Sirius! You shouldn't ask her to go with you. She's not worth it-she doesn't deserve you," Kristin said.  
  
"You mean I don't deserve her," Sirius said, grinning wickedly.  
  
"You deserve someone who cares about you, Sirius, someone who loves you," Kristin said.  
  
"And that someone is Melissa. Have you made your point yet? I need to go before I forget what I was going to say," Sirius said, turning away.  
  
"But in order for that someone to be Melissa, she would have to love you, wouldn't she?" Kristin asked.  
  
"What are you getting at?" Sirius asked.  
  
"I hate to be the one to tell you this, Sirius, but she's using you. She doesn't love you at all, she's just doing it to toy with your heart," Kristin said.  
  
"Why would she want to do a stupid thing like that?" Sirius asked, obviously annoyed.  
  
"Because she wants to help James. Lily likes you, Sirius, and she thinks that if you're taken, Lily might turn to James," Kristin said sarcastically.  
  
"That's stupid. You're lying," Sirius said.  
  
"All right, well, the bit about Lily wasn't true, but she is using you, Sirius! She doesn't care about you at all, and you deserve so much better!" Kristin exclaimed.  
  
"You still haven't given me a reason why the hell you think I should believe you," Sirius said. Kristin looked at him pleadingly.  
  
"Have I ever lied to you?" she asked.  
  
"You just did," Sirius said.  
  
"That was a joke. Other than that, when have I ever lied to you?" Kristin asked.  
  
"Never, I guess," Sirius admitted.  
  
"And has Melissa ever lied to you?" she asked. Sirius seemed to be thinking.  
  
"Maybe once," he admitted sadly.  
  
"And what would I gain by lying to you?" Kristin asked.  
  
"Nothing, I suppose," Sirius conceded.  
  
"Then why don't you believe me?" Kristin asked.  
  
"I don't want to believe you," Sirius said.  
  
"That's exactly why you need to believe me! I'm telling you the truth, Sirius!" Kristin said. Sirius looked down at his feet.  
  
"I'll talk to her," Sirius said finally.  
  
"Just don't let her fool you," Kristin said.  
  
"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for the warning, Kristin," Sirius said, and he walked away, looking dejected. He did not go over to where Melissa sat, talking to her friends, but instead he sat alone on the opposite end of the Common Room.  
  
"You moron," Harry said to the real Sirius.  
  
"Yeah, I know," Sirius said. Melissa looked white.  
  
"You know, I'm not so sure I want to see the fight anymore," Melissa said as she saw her memory self approaching the young Sirius.  
  
"You can go back, then, but I think Harry should see this," Sirius said.  
  
"Well, I suppose I will stay. I want to see how James talked you around afterward," Melissa admitted. Then they focused their attention on their memory selves.  
  
"Hey. Are you okay? You look sad," Melissa said, sitting down next to him.  
  
"What do you want?" Sirius asked bitterly. He refused to meet her eyes.  
  
"I wanted to see if you were all right," she said, looking at him, concern in her eyes.  
  
"I'm fine. Leave me alone," he said angrily.  
  
"Sirius? What's going on?" she asked.  
  
"As if you didn't know. Kristin told me everything," Sirius said.  
  
"What are you talking about?" she asked, confused.  
  
"Don't play dumb. I know that you're using me," Sirius said.  
  
"Using you? What is this nonsense?" Melissa asked.  
  
"I mean I know that you're only toying with my heart. To be honest, I don't appreciate it very much! How dare you! I was just beginning to open my heart to you, and then I found out that you don't love me at all, that you're just playing with me for your own sick pleasure," Sirius said angrily.  
  
"How can you believe that? How can you think that I would ever do such a thing? You know me better than that, Sirius," Melissa said, obviously upset.  
  
"I thought I did," Sirius spat.  
  
"But, Sirius, I thought that you loved me! Why don't you believe me?" Melissa asked, desperate.  
  
"I don't believe you because I don't love you. I never have, and I never will!" he shouted angrily, and he stormed away, leaving Melissa in tears.  
  
The scene changed quickly. Now they were in what Harry recognized as the boys dormitory. Harry saw Sirius again, and another boy was with him. This boy had brown eyes, and untidy black hair.  
  
"I can't believe you did that to her, Sirius!" James said angrily.  
  
"What do you mean? She was the one using me, not the other way around," Sirius replied.  
  
"How can you believe that? How is it that you trust Kristin, but you don't trust me, your best friend, or Melissa, my cousin, your friend?" he asked angrily.  
  
"Then you believe her too? Oh, go on, side with her, you always do, just because she's your cousin and you think that she can really get Lily to like you. You don't care how I feel, James!" Sirius said.  
  
"How do you feel, then?" James spat.  
  
"Betrayed. Angry. Heartbroken. I really care about her, James!" Sirius said.  
  
"Then why the hell won't you believe her? How can I prove to you that she's not lying, an that Kristin made the whole thing up?" James asked.  
  
"She didn't make it up, James," Sirius protested.  
  
"She did so. If all of this were true, then why would Melissa have locked herself in her dorm and cried for the last three days. Why would she want to kill herself?" James asked.  
  
"What?" Sirius asked.  
  
"You heard me. She's really upset, you should hear her crying. She loves you so much, Sirius, she doesn't want to go on alone. She doesn't want to be without you," James said.  
  
"And I don't want to be without her. Is she really upset?" Sirius asked.  
  
"Of course, you great big oaf, she loves you, and you think that she USED you? You really are such an idiot, Sirius. Do you believe me now?" James asked.  
  
"Yes, I do. But how can I make it up to your cousin?" Sirius asked. The memory ended, and Harry felt himself fall back into Melissa's office.  
  
"That was, erm, interesting," Harry said.  
  
"It certainly was. I'd forgotten how much I hate Kristin," Sirius said.  
  
"And Julie thinks she's harmless," Melissa muttered.  
  
"Melissa, I thought I heard my dad say that you were his cousin," Harry said in shock.  
  
"That's right. His father was my mother's brother," Melissa said.  
  
"I never knew," Harry said.  
  
"Of course you didn't know, how could you have known?" Melissa asked, smiling. Harry's head was spinning. He didn't like Kristin very much either-he wondered if Alex knew what her aunt had done. Harry glanced up at Sirius, and there was a look in his eyes that made Harry think that he should leave.  
  
"I'll talk to you later, then," Harry said, and he left the office. His head was still spinning from all that he had just learned. Melissa and Sirius had really hurt each other-or maybe it was that Sirius had really hurt Melissa and himself by believing Kristin's lie. Harry shook his head. He needed to talk to someone else about this. 


	12. Gryffindor Vs Slytherin

Harry Potter and the Students of the School of the Sphinx (12/?)  
  
By Angelina Johnson  
  
Chapter 12  
  
Gryffindor Vs. Slytherin  
  
Disclaimer:  
  
Right, I've been forgetting these, but you can all tell what I own and what I don't. Almost everything belongs to J.K. Rowling.  
  
Harry had changed his mind about discussing the details of the fight he had seen, but he had mentioned to Ginny and Ron what Kristin Langley had tried to do. He had also mentioned it to Alex, but Hermione had been too busy for Harry to get a chance to talk to her about it. Alex had looked furious when Harry told her.  
  
"I knew I didn't like her, but really! I never realized that she was that mean!" Alex had said. Harry just sort of shook his head. Alex hadn't seen the fight, she hadn't seen the look on both Sirius and Melissa's faces. It was now obvious that they meant the world to each other, and Harry was not keen on forgiving Kristin for causing them to hurt each other. Harry had not ever really talked to her, but she had been teaching a few of their History of Magic classes. While everyone realized that her lessons were far more interesting than Professor Binns', and they almost been fun, but Harry refused to enjoy them. Hermione did not understand why Harry didn't even try to like the class, but Harry's patience was starting to run thin, and when she asked him about it he only snapped at her.  
  
Harry's biggest worries at the moment had to do with Quidditch. This weekend was the first match of the season, Gryffindor vs. Slytherin, and Harry was feeling the pressure of being captain more than ever. He had held practices every night of the week, and he had closed them so that no one could spy on the team.  
  
Malfoy, who was the new Slytherin captain, seemed just as on edge as Harry. His usual confidence and arrogance seemed to have faded, and when Harry passed him in the halls, he didn't even take the time to sneer or make some mean comment. Crabbe and Goyle, however, seemed to have finally learned how to use their incredibly tiny brains without Malfoy's leads, and they had taken to making mean comments about how Harry would fall off of his broom or Ron would miss the Quaffle.  
  
Harry and Ron had finally, after five years, learned not to rise to the challenge when they were baited by the Slytherins. They had enough experience to know that it usually ended up in them getting in trouble, and even though Harry felt as though detentions were trivial compared to things going on around them, he still preferred to avoid them.  
  
The night before the match, the team sat huddled around the fire. None of them had anything to say. They were all so young, and so new. Slytherin not only had the size advantage, but they also had the experience advantage. They only had one new player, while the Gryffindors had four new players and a player who now had a new position. Even though Harry felt that they definitely had the talent advantage, but he had doubts about whether that would be enough. The Luna's, who were usually loud and obnoxious, were now silent. Brett, who was usually the center of attention, was now sitting away from the action of the Common Room. Andrea, who was usually bent over a book or scribbling on a piece of parchment, sat staring blankly at the wall. Harry, Ron, and Ginny (who was very nervous despite her denying that she was) sat next to them, talking softly about what they were going to be up against.  
  
"They still have the broom advantage, Harry, you may have a Firebolt, but it still can't match up to the brooms that Mr. Malfoy gave them," Ron said.  
  
"Before he was arrested and tried, of course," Ginny muttered. Ron smiled.  
  
"It's just Slytherin. We've beat them before, and we have a great combination on this team! We can pull it off," Ron said loudly. Harry grinned at him appreciatively.  
  
"You know, you're right, Ron. We have no reason to be nervous!" Caroline Luna said.  
  
"Yeah, why are we all sitting around doing nothing when we could be making a mess?" Katherine Luna asked. She and Caroline rose and headed off to their dorms, but Brett and Andrea still looked nervous.  
  
"Don't worry about it, guys. If you don't think you can concentrate on anything lese, then you should go get some sleep," Harry said.  
  
"I think I should do that. Otherwise I'll be sick," Andrea said, and headed to bed.  
  
"I shouldn't be scared. Katie said that it's nothing to worry about," Brett said, mostly trying to convince himself. He, too, headed off to bed.  
  
"I'm tired. I ought to get some sleep, too," Ginny said, and she headed off.  
  
"Ron, I really don't want to lose to Malfoy! We have to win," Harry said.  
  
"And we have to get our minds off of this game! It's only seven thirty and half the team is already in bed. I know just the thing," Ron said, and he dragged Harry toward the portrait hole.  
  
"Where are we going?" Harry asked.  
  
"Find Alex," Ron said.  
  
"What for?" Harry asked. Alex seemed to be Ron's answer to everything lately.  
  
"Just because," Ron said.  
  
"Ron, don't you think Alex needs some time to herself? You've gone to talk to her every night this week!" Harry said.  
  
"Not true. You were the one who talked to her on Tuesday," Ron said sheepishly. Harry shook his head.  
  
"Can't we just go down to talk to Melissa or something? Or maybe go down to the library? I don't want to bother Alex," Harry said.  
  
"You wouldn't say that if it were Ginny instead of Alex," Ron said, and finally Harry gave in. They found Alex in the library, surrounded by a pile of books.  
  
"Do you ever go to your dorm?" Ron asked her as he slid into a seat on her right. Harry grudgingly sat in the one on her left.  
  
"Hardly," Alex said, grinning.  
  
"And why is that?" Harry asked her.  
  
"I told you before I'm not a big fan of the people from my school. They aren't exactly nice to me, and I don't really mind," Alex said. Ron smiled sympathetically.  
  
"Hey, Alex, are you coming to the match tomorrow? Gryffindor vs. Slytherin, first match of the season," Ron reminded her.  
  
"Of course I'll be there. Quidditch is my life! Besides, it's my duty to my team to keep an eye on the competition," Alex said with a wicked grin.  
  
"I just hope one of us knocks Malfoy off his broom," Ron said, showing his disgust for the blond haired boy.  
  
"That's very nice of you, Weasley. Do you feel the same, Potter?" Malfoy asked. He had just come from the Restricted Section, a book in his arms. He was careful not to let them see the title.  
  
"Dunno. We'll find out tomorrow, won't we?" Harry asked.  
  
"It's always tomorrow with you, isn't it, Potter?" Malfoy asked.  
  
"What is that supposed to mean?" Ron asked.  
  
"Oh, nothing," Malfoy said with a smirk. Ron grabbed him by the collar.  
  
"I asked you what that was supposed to mean, Malfoy," Ron said, his voice in a dangerous whisper.  
  
"Leave him alone, Ron. He's just trying to draw you into a fight. He knows that you aren't fool enough to try anything with Crabbe and Goyle around, but that doesn't mean that you should jump on him when they're not around," Harry said.  
  
"Bug off, Harry!" Ron said.  
  
"Ron, leave him alone! He hasn't done anything to you, it was Harry he was insulting-or at least I think that must have been an insult. But this should be Harry's battle, and if he has the sense not to fight this little weasel then you should, too," Alex said firmly. Ron finally released Malfoy.  
  
"You're right," Ron said, and Malfoy sneered at the three of them as he left.  
  
"Wonder what that worm was doing in the Restricted Section," Harry said.  
  
"Yeah, that's a good question," Alex said.  
  
"I just want to know why you won't let me bloody him up one good time," Ron said darkly. Harry laughed.  
  
"You can't go around beating people up," Alex said.  
  
"Malfoy deserves it, though," Ron said.  
  
"I agree, but don't get even with him by beating him up, get even by beating him in Quidditch," Alex said with a wicked grin.  
  
"I know you can do it," she said, patting Ron on the shoulder. He grinned broadly.  
  
"Thanks, Alex," he said.  
  
"And speaking of Quidditch, I think I'd best go on up to bed. We need to be well rested," Harry said, and he got up to leave.  
  
"I'll be there in a minute," Ron said, and Harry left him and Alex alone.  
  
Harry slept uneasily that night, but it had nothing to do with Quidditch.  
  
The night was dark and cold, and Harry could see that they were inside of the forest. There were two other people with him, but he couldn't tell who they were. They were going deeper and deeper into the forest, and Harry heard rustling ahead of them. They seemed to be following a trail of blood-human blood. They walked and walked for what seemed to be an hour or more. They reached a clearing, and in it was a body. Harry couldn't make out who it was from this far away.  
  
"Should we see who it is?" a voice asked. Harry recognized it as Draco Malfoy's.  
  
"We have to try and help them," the other voice said. It was Alex Evans.  
  
"They're probably already dead," Malfoy muttered.  
  
"Shut up, Malfoy! Do you have no compassion?" Alex asked. Harry could see that whoever the person is wasn't dead. Their chest was moving up and down very slowly-they were breathing.  
  
"Let's go," Harry said, and they drew nearer to the body. Just as they had gone to draw the hood back, Harry woke up.  
  
He sat straight up, sweating and panting. Dawn had just begun to break at the edge of the forest, and Harry knew that he had a couple of hours before he even needed to be up, but he couldn't go back to bed, so finally he got out of bed and went down to the Common Room.  
  
He wasn't the only one down there. Ginny sat in a chair next to the fire, wide awake, holding her knees.  
  
"What's wrong, Gin? Nervous?" Harry asked her gently.  
  
"Yes, but not about Quidditch. Well, it's partly about Quidditch, but I just have a bad feeling. Not about the match, though-it's about something bigger, I feel it," she said. Harry just looked at her nervously. He wasn't sure if he wanted to bring up the dream he had had or not.  
  
"Why are you up so early?" Ginny asked him.  
  
"Bad dream," Harry said, not wanting to give her the details.  
  
"Cedric?" Ginny asked softly.  
  
"No. Something-else," he said, in a tone that clearly said he didn't want to talk about it. Ginny understood, and they sat in silence until breakfast.  
  
Harry had to coax Andrea and Brett to eat. Ginny ate on her own, but she didn't eat a lot. The Luna twins and Ron, on the other hand, had piled their plates with food.  
  
No one said much during breakfast. A couple of people from other houses came over to wish them luck, but other than that not much was said.  
  
After they were done eating, Harry led the team down to the locker rooms to change into their scarlet robes.  
  
"All right, well, this is it. All of our practice has brought us here, and there's not really anything I can tell you to make this any difference. I know you guys have what it takes to beat Slytherin, and now all we have to do is prove it to the rest of the school," Harry said. The Lunas cheered loudly. Harry peeked out of the door, and he motioned for the team to line up. They listened as Seamus announced the Slytherins. The seven of them emerged in green robes to a large series of boos.  
  
"And now, I give you the Gryffindor team. Keeper Ron Weasley, Chasers Ginny Weasley, Brett Bell, and Andrea Johnson, Beaters Katherine and Caroline Luna, and Seeker and Captain Harry Potter!" Seamus roared. Cheers erupted around the stadium.  
  
"Players, mount your brooms," Madam Hooch said, "on my whistle... One... Two... Three." The whistle blew, and fifteen brooms rose into the air.  
  
"And Bell takes the Quaffle, passes to Johnson-these two plan to live up to the standards that their sister set the past few years, and they look as though it is quite possible. Great flying by Johnson, passes back to Bell, he swerves around the Slytherin Chaser, heads to the goal, passes to Ginny Weasley, she shoots-oh, no, way off there, Ginny, and the Quaffle goes to Slytherin," Seamus said. Boos rose around the crowd. By the time the noise had died and Seamus could be heard again, the Slytherin Chaser was at the other end of the field.  
  
"He shoots-past Weasley, the Quaffle goes in, and oh, no, ten to zero Slytherin," Seamus said. There were groans from the Gryffindor fans.  
  
Above the action of the game, Harry and Malfoy flew from side to side, trying to catch a glimpse of the Snitch.  
  
"Weasley streaks toward the goal, Bludger hit at her by Goyle, she drops the Quaffle, it's taken by Slytherin, they shoot again, and where is Ron Weasley? Slytherin scores, twenty to zero," Seamus said. Harry groaned. They were making a mess down there. Ron, who usually blocked everything, had now missed eight straight goals, and the Chasers, who usually flew so well together, had only managed to score two goals. Crabbe and Goyle celebrated their lead by pelting a Bludger towards the back of Katherine Luna's head.  
  
"Unnecessary! TWO fouls to Gryffindor," she shouted, but then she called a time out while someone attended to Katherine. The Bludger had hit her hard, and she was now out cold. Harry flew down to the ground, and saw that Professor McGonagall was dragging Katherine on a magical stretcher to the Hospital Wing.  
  
"That's a nasty head injury she has. Do you have a Reserve?" Madam Hooch asked. Harry nodded, and he motioned for Dean to come into the game.  
  
The game resumed, Brett and Andrea each took one of the foul shots and they both made them, making the score eighty to forty, Slytherin. The Gryffindor Chasers were now very angry, and they quickly closed the gap. Caroline Luna was so angry that she was pelting Bludgers in every direction, and the Slytherin's never stayed in possession of the Quaffle for very long.  
  
Gryffindor was now winning, one hundred and sixty to ninety. Harry was cheering for the goal that Ginny had just scored when he caught a glimpse of the Snitch. It was down on the other end of the field, near the ground. Malfoy was much closer to it, and though he had not seen it yet, Harry was afraid that if he went toward the Snitch Malfoy would notice and beat him to the small golden ball.  
  
"And there's the Snitch!" Seamus announced. Apparently he had seen it as well. Now Malfoy noticed it-Harry urged his broom to go as fast as it could, but Malfoy was too close. Harry pushed on, but it was no use. He was twenty feet away from it, Malfoy was five. The seconds seemed endless, but Harry watched helplessly as Malfoy's hand closed on the Snitch.  
  
"I don't believe it! Slytherin wins the match, two hundred forty to one hundred sixty," Seamus said. The Slytherins cheered loudly. Harry landed his broom and hung his head. He trudged to the locker room, the rest of the team behind him.  
  
"It's not your fault, Harry. You didn't know that the Snitch would appear next to Malfoy. It was just luck, everyone knows that you're a much better Seeker than he is," Ginny said. Caroline nodded fiercely in agreement.  
  
"We'll get even-somehow," Ron said. 


	13. Halloween

Harry Potter and the Students of the School of the Sphinx (13/?)  
  
By Angelina Johnson  
  
Chapter 13  
  
Halloween  
  
A/N: I decided to keep this story on fanfiction.net! Yay!  
  
Harry quickly forgot about the disastrous Quidditch match, but it seemed that the team was really letting it get them down. On top of the team's low spirits, Malfoy was using it to torture all of the Gryffindor's, especially Harry. Every time they ran into each other in the hall's, Malfoy made mean comments and tried to embarrass Harry. Harry, however, remained unphased-he knew better by now than to rise to Malfoy's bait, especially if it were something as trivial as Quidditch.  
  
The rest of the team didn't have as much self control as Harry. Ron, the Lunas, and Dean had all landed themselves in detention for fighting. Harry had not been with any of them at the time, but Dean had taken a swing at one of the Slytherin fifth years who was on the team, Ron had punched Malfoy and given him a black-eye, and the Luna twins had hexed Crabbe and Goyle. Harry decided that the twins were either very brave, or very stupid.  
  
Later that week Harry was talking to Ali Burke about Quidditch. Ali had taken a break from Quidditch when Alicia had died (they were cousins, after all, and rather close), but she thought she was ready to come back to practice. After the first game, when Katherine had gotten hurt and Dean had needed to play, Ali had been afraid that something similar might happen, and one of the Chasers would be hurt.  
  
"So I'll be at the next practice Monday, then?" Ali asked.  
  
"Yeah, that's good," Harry replied. Ali was about to leave when Malfoy showed up.  
  
"Hullo, Potter. And who is this?" he asked, sneering at Ali.  
  
"Why do you care, Malfoy?" Harry asked him. He shrugged.  
  
"Just wondering. I didn't know that you were desperate enough to go for second years. Knowing you she's probably some little Mudblood," Malfoy said. Ali turned red.  
  
"I'm a pure-blood, Malfoy, not that it matters. I don't care what scum like you think of me, I've heard enough things about you from my parents, and especially my cousin," Ali said.  
  
"Cousin? What did you say your name was, girl?" Draco asked.  
  
"I didn't say my name," Ali replied, "but it's Ali."  
  
"Ali what?" Malfoy asked her.  
  
"Why should I tell you?" she replied coolly.  
  
"I was just wondering," Malfoy said with another shrug.  
  
"It's Burke," Ali replied. Malfoy looked at her.  
  
"What do you want with Potter, then?" Malfoy asked her.  
  
"What is this, twenty-one questions? Leave her alone, Malfoy," Harry said.  
  
"Hang on, Potter, the girl wants to answer me," Malfoy said.  
  
"Quidditch," Ali replied.  
  
"Quidditch, was it? It's such a pity that they lost to Slytherin. Too bad you weren't on the team to help-I guess you just didn't get the Quidditch talent from your cousin. Although if I were you, I'd prefer being in your position-I'd rather be alive than be good at Quidditch," Malfoy said. He had gone too far, and he knew it. It was one thing for Harry to sit back and listen to Malfoy say mean things to him, but he couldn't just sit back while Malfoy tortured other people. Ali blinked, tears forming in her eyes.  
  
WHAM! Harry's fist collided with Malfoy's jaw. Malfoy stepped back, shocked. Ali had fled from the scene.  
  
"Ten points from Gryffindor, Potter. Both of you, my office, now," Snape said, looking at Harry through furious eyes.  
  
"I think I ought to come with you, then, Severus. After all, Malfoy deserves a punishment," Melissa said. Harry had not noticed either teacher when he had punched Malfoy.  
  
"And what for? Malfoy did nothing wrong," Snape said as the four of them walked in the direction of Snape's office.  
  
"Oh, of course, Harry just goes around punching people for no reason," Melissa said sarcastically.  
  
"I'm not saying that. I am saying that perhaps Potter is jealous of Malfoy's superior Quidditch talent," Snape said, smirking.  
  
"Superior Quidditch talent my foot! That game was luck, and the whole school knows it!" Melissa roared.  
  
"You're just like your cousin!" Snape said furiously.  
  
"Good!" Melissa shot back. Snape looked at her, in his eyes showing a mix of hatred and liking.  
  
"Professor Snape, may I go to the hospital wing?" Malfoy asked. For once, he did not seem keen to hear the teacher's argue.  
  
"Yes, go ahead, Malfoy," Snape said. Melissa shot a glance at him.  
  
"May I leave, too, Professor?" Harry asked hopefully.  
  
"No, Potter, we need to further discuss your punishment. I'd say detention," Snape said.  
  
"And Malfoy gets no punishment at all, Severus? He was taunting Ali Burke about her cousin's death!" Melissa said.  
  
"I don't see why that us worth punishment," Snape said.  
  
"You are the most unfair, insufferable man I have ever met! You just let Malfoy say whatever he wants, no matter how much it hurts his fellow students!" Melissa said angrily.  
  
"Now, Melissa, it is quite obvious that you favor Potter over other students, and I feel that this detail may be altering your judgment," Snape said.  
  
"He's my godson! He's the child of my only cousin and my best friend! Even if I did favor him I would have a reason to! What reason have you for favoring Malfoy, though? And don't play dumb with me, Snivellus," she added. Harry had to hold back a laugh. Snape was looking at her with his deadly glare.  
  
"You're just like Black and Potter. I was wrong to ever think that you were any better than the rest of them. When you first came to Hogwarts, you were a good person, even if you were in Gryffindor," he shuddered at the thought of someone good being in Gryffindor, "and then you let their little antics change you. Potter and Black-how I despised the pair-they tortured me for no reason, they tortured me because they were BORED. What does that say about the kind of people they were?" he asked her.  
  
"They were the kind of people who learned from their mistakes. They were the kind of people who changed. You, I see, have not changed a bit since the day I met you," she spat. Harry had never seen his godmother so angry. As fascinating as this was, he wanted to leave very badly, but Snape had said for him to stay. The door was left cracked open, and he saw through the door Alex, Ron, and Ginny. Alex was holding up a pack of Dungbombs. Harry looked at her with pleading eyes. They dropped the whole bag of them, and an awful smell rose just outside of Snape's office. Harry grinned as they darted out of sight.  
  
"What's going on?" Snape asked angrily. He rose from his chair and headed off in the direction of the Dungbombs. Melissa rose as well, but she did not make a mad dash after the culprits. Instead, she walked over to Harry.  
  
"Forget about the detention. I'll talk him out of it-or I'll try. If that doesn't work, I'll talk to Minerva. She'll understand-I think she'd be proud of you for defending Ali. Or at least she wouldn't blame you. Anyway, you and I need to get out of here before Snape gets back," she said, and she led Harry out of the office. Harry was glad to be away from the dark office and all of it's odd jars full of things on the shelves.  
  
Once they were out in the bright hallways, Harry felt much better. He was still furious at Malfoy for saying such mean things to Ali, and he wondered if she was okay.  
  
"Now, where are Ron and Ginny? I have a feeling they had something to do with those Dungbombs," Melissa said. Harry looked up at her, but she didn't look mad at all. She looked like she thought it was all some great joke.  
  
"Not sure-they ran off in the opposite direction as Snape, they went towards Gryffindor tower," Harry said.  
  
"Well, I'll talk to you later, then. You shouldn't be wasting your day-go find your friends," Melissa said, and she disappeared. Harry walked down the hallways, and near the Charms room he was bombarded by Ron, Ginny, Hermione and Alex.  
  
"What was that whole thing about?" Alex asked.  
  
"Yeah, we heard Snape and Melissa yelling-it was crazy. I didn't hear anything that they said, though," Ron said.  
  
"Well, Malfoy was being a real jerk, as usual, and I was talking to Ali Burke, right, and he comes up and starts taunting her about her cousin," Harry said.  
  
"You mean Alicia? I'll kill him! What a ("Ron!" Hermione said), I can't believe it, you should've punched him, Harry," Ron said.  
  
"I did, and Snape got mad and took points off of Gryffindor and he tried to give me detention, and Melissa got really mad at him and told him that he was unfair, and that he favored Malfoy and that he hadn't changed a bit since she met him. Then Snape said that Melissa favored me, and that she let my dad and Sirius change her, and that she was just like my dad. Oh, yeah, Melissa said something like I don't go around hitting people for no reason, and that Malfoy should be punished for saying what he did, and Snape said he though that the only reason I hit him was because I was jealous of Malfoy's superior Quidditch talents," Harry said.  
  
"Superior Quidditch talents! What a laugh!" Ron said. Harry grinned.  
  
"It's not important. Malfoy got what he deserved. Anyway, it's almost time for the Halloween feast, we ought to go ahead and head down to the Great Hall," Ginny said. The others nodded.  
  
The Great Hall was not as elaborately decorated this year. Hagrid's normal overgrown pumpkins did not look as big as usual, which was probably due to the fact that Hagrid was gone and had not been able to pay as much attention to them. There were several skeletons dancing around the hall, and the ghosts kept popping in and out of the hall. There were still plenty of live bats and the hall was decorated in black and orange. The decorations were still wonderful, but Harry did not feel as happy this Halloween. With Voldemort on the rise, he thought about what had happened on this night fifteen years ago. This was the night that his parents had died. This was the night that Pettigrew had betrayed them. Had Sirius known, this night fifteen years ago, that he would be going to Azkaban for twelve years the next day? Had Melissa known that she was so close to losing everything that she cared about? For some reason, Halloween felt like an evil night to him. He vaguely remembered someone telling him that the barriers between good and evil were not as strong on this night. He remembered that someone had said that a wizards powers were stronger on Halloween. He just prayed that Voldemort was not out there right now, doing something terrible.  
  
Harry looked at the teachers and he noticed that he was not the only one who looked worried. Melissa, Dumbledore, Snape and McGonagall all looked uneasy. Harry ate in silence, not wanting to share in the festivities.  
  
After the feast, Melissa asked Harry, Ginny, Alex, Ron and Hermione to come to her office. They all trudged in five minutes later. Melissa looked unhappy.  
  
"I'm sorry, I always like company on Halloween. It's a hard night for me-so many memories," Melissa said. She tried to smile and failed.  
  
"All I thought about throughout dinner was that this was the night that my parents died, and that right now Voldemort could be out there harming someone else," Harry said.  
  
"So that's why you were so quiet," Ginny said. Harry nodded.  
  
"Yes, well, I had the same feeling that you did. I just hope we're wrong about Voldemort," Melissa said. Alex shuddered at the name.  
  
"He took away my dad," she said sadly.  
  
"Your father was a good man. I knew him at Hogwarts," Melissa said. Alex nodded.  
  
"Melissa, is it true that the bonds between good and evil are weak on Halloween?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Where did you get that idea?" Melissa asked her.  
  
"I read it somewhere," Hermione replied.  
  
"Yes, it is true. That's why I'm so afraid," Melissa said. She shivered, even though she was sitting next to the hot fire. She looked at it expectantly.  
  
"Well, there was a good reason for you to be scared," Sirius said. He had just fallen out of the fire.  
  
"Yes, I had hoped that this would be a pleasant visit," Julie muttered.  
  
"Damn him," Lupin added.  
  
"Who are you?" Alex demanded.  
  
"Sirius Black," Sirius said.  
  
"Remus Lupin."  
  
"Julie Montgomery."  
  
"And you are?" Sirius asked her.  
  
"Alex Evans. I go to-went to-the School of the Sphinx," she said.  
  
"Kristin's niece?" Sirius asked.  
  
"Yes," Melissa replied, "but what's going on, Sirius?" He frowned.  
  
"Death Eaters all over the place, doing his dirty work for him. Twelve deaths just tonight," Sirius said.  
  
"Twelve tonight?" Melissa asked.  
  
"How could this happen?" Harry questioned.  
  
"Who?" Ginny gasped.  
  
"Dung's sister and her husband, that's two. I heard Lucius Malfoy got them," Lupin said.  
  
"No," Melissa said.  
  
"That's not the worst of it. They got the Macmillans," Sirius said.  
  
"Ernie Macmillan's parents?" Harry asked.  
  
"And his younger sister," Sirius said sadly.  
  
"How could he! All these people," Melissa muttered.  
  
"The last of the Prewetts-they're all gone now. They killed Allan's brother and his family," Julie said, tears in her eyes.  
  
"How many of the Prewett's were there?" Melissa asked.  
  
"Six. Four kids," Julie said.  
  
"This has got to be the worst attack he's ever had," Melissa said.  
  
"It is the worst one. He wants to prove to everyone that he's truly back, and that he's more terrible than ever," Sirius said.  
  
"Is he really worse than ever? Or does he just want to make it look like he is?" Melissa asked.  
  
"Well, he's about the same as he was before he lost his power right now, but he's gaining strength and followers by the day," Sirius said.  
  
"What if he can't be stopped?" Alex asked. Sirius looked at her.  
  
"We'll all die trying to stop him," Lupin said, and he looked at Alex very sadly.  
  
"Yes, most definitely," Julie agreed. She, too, looked at Alex.  
  
"Why are you all looking at me like that?" Alex demanded.  
  
"Well, it's just..." Julie began.  
  
"Voldemort had one more victim tonight," Sirius explained.  
  
"Your mother," Sirius said. Alex stared at him.  
  
"You're lying! I mean, you have to be lying! It can't be true, you must be wrong!" Alex said.  
  
"I'm sorry, Alex," Julie said. Everyone else in the room was shocked.  
  
"NO!" Alex screamed. She began to sob uncontrollably.  
  
"She's all I have, she's all I have left, she can't be gone, she can't be, why would he kill her?" she said, crying into Ron's shoulder.  
  
"We won't give up. Voldemort already had to pay-now he just has to even more," Ron said, trying to reassure her. Ginny was shaking uncontrollably, Hermione had buried her face in her hands, and Harry was hugging his knees. Twelve deaths in one night. How much worse were things going to get? 


	14. Sirius and Melissa's Wedding

Harry Potter and the Students of the School of the Sphinx (14/?)  
  
By Angelina Johnson  
  
Chapter 14  
  
Sirius and Melissa's Wedding  
  
The next month passed very quickly. Ravenclaw beat Hufflepuff in the beginning of November, and Slytherin lost to the School of the Sphinx. It was a very close game, with the School of the Sphinx winning 150-140. Their Keeper was terrible, and so were the Chasers. The Beaters had no aim, and Alex at Seeker was the only hope for the team. Harry was not surprised, he had watched Alex practice. Harry could find her on the Quidditch pitch nearly every night, working long after the rest of the team had gone back to the dorms, and training on nights that she had off. Harry noticed that not only did she practice Quidditch, but she conditioned herself, training to make sure that she was always in top shape. Harry respected her abilities and her dedication, but he felt that she might be working herself too hard. Since her mother's death, she had been working at least twice as hard, pushing herself to exhaustion. She was always working hard on something lately, whether it was Quidditch or school. Harry couldn't blame her, she just wanted to take her mind off of things. Harry himself remembered how awful the month he had thought Sirius was dead was, and he wished there was some way for Alex's mum to still be alive, just like Sirius. It didn't work like that, though, Sirius had been lucky, and nothing was bringing Mrs. Evans back. They had seen her body, Alex had left school briefly for her funeral. She had had nothing to say when she returned, in fact, lately she had had nothing to say anyway. She seemed so distant, and so upset. Finally one night right before break Harry got her to break her silence. She still wouldn't speak about any topic close to Voldemort, or her mum's death, but at least she talked at all.  
  
"So, what are your plans for the holidays?" Alex asked.  
  
"Going back to Order Headquarters. Normally I would stay at Hogwarts, but I have to go to Sirius and Melissa's wedding," Harry said.  
  
"Oh, how sweet," Alex said, but all of her usual enthusiasm was gone. Her voice sounded monotone and lacked any emotion, and Harry could not blame her. Harry was about to ask her if she was staying at school, and then he changed his mind. He didn't want to bring it up, he was afraid that it would remind her of the fact that she didn't have a home to go to. He was trying to find a change of subject when Alex spoke.  
  
"Aunt Kristin wants me to come to her house over the holidays, but I told her that I would rather stay here. I don't think that she liked that, but it's true. I never want to go back to the School of the Sphinx. They're rebuilding it, you know, so I'll have to go back eventually," she said. She looked unhappy.  
  
"So you're staying here?" Harry asked her.  
  
"Yeah, I don't exactly have a home to go to. But I shouldn't feel sorry for myself-you've never really had a home where people love you, have you?" Alex asked.  
  
"I've gotten used to it. You deserve better than that, though. Are you going to have to live with your aunt?" Harry asked. Now that they were on the subject, he realized there was so much he and Alex had in common now, so much that he wanted to know. He knew he was probably being insensitive and nosy, but he wasn't sure that he cared.  
  
"I deserve better? You mean to say that you think you don't? Harry, I had my mum for fifteen years, and you've never had anyone! You're a hero, and one of the most wonderful, brave, loyal people I know, and you think you don't deserve to have grown up with a family that loves you? Oh, Harry," Alex said, and she buried her face in her hands.  
  
"Alex, I'm sorry, please don't cry," Harry said, worried. He wasn't sure how to treat her, he wasn't used to comforting people when they were like this. He was usually the one who was upset about things, after all, most of the bad stuff happened to him.  
  
"I'm not crying, I'm just-tired. REALLY tired," Alex added, "I haven't had any fun lately, and I've been working so hard to try and get my mind off of things, and I'm just worn out. It's too much, and Ron's been telling me that I need to slow down, take it easy, but I don't listen. I just push him away-I know he's just been trying to help, and I should've listened to him. I've exhausted myself by working too hard."  
  
"I've noticed," Harry said, and Alex looked like she was trying to grin. It was the first time in over a month.  
  
"Mum would have wanted to die like this. She always feared growing old. It was the only thing she was ever afraid of, aside from thinking that she failed me as a mother. She knows that I'd be proud if she died for such a cause, even though I'd miss her," Alex said.  
  
"I think I know what you mean. Well, I never knew my parents, but still, I'm proud of them for believing so strongly in what was right that they would die for it," Harry said.  
  
"At least now you'll have your godparents, though. Better late than never," Alex said.  
  
"Yeah. Say, you should come to their wedding," Harry said.  
  
"Oh, I couldn't. I don't know them well enough, and it wouldn't be right for me to impose! Besides, I wouldn't have a way to get there," Alex said.  
  
"You could stay at Headquarters! Come on, you know you're one of Melissa's favorite students, and you've talked to her often enough. Besides, Ron and Ginny and Hermione will be there for a while, and they all like you," Harry said.  
  
"Are Ron's brothers going to be there?" Alex asked.  
  
"I think so. Well, I dunno about Percy, he apologized for being a jerk, and his mum forgave him, but his dad still isn't happy with him, not to mention Sirius isn't exactly Percy's favorite person. Percy thinks Sirius ought to set a better example. But Bill, Charlie, Fred and George should all be there," Harry said.  
  
"I've been wanting to meet them. Ron's told me a lot about them. But I just don't know if I'd be welcome there," Alex said.  
  
"Of course you would be. If it'll make you feel better, though, I'll talk to Melissa," Harry said.  
  
"No, you won't, I know you too well. All right, I'll come, but you're sure it's okay?" she asked.  
  
"Yes, Alex, it's fine," Harry promised her again.  
  
"Good. I'm looking forward to it," Alex said.  
  
"Yeah. You know, I bet my parents would have loved to have been at Sirius and Melissa's wedding," Harry said. Alex looked at him through sad eyes.  
  
"Harry? Are you afraid of death?" Alex asked him.  
  
"I can't be. There's a fifty-fifty chance I've got to die, and I'm finally coming to accept that," Harry said.  
  
"Are you afraid of it?" he asked her. She nodded.  
  
"Some people see it as the beginning, but I see it as the end. You never really know what it's like, because the ghosts are only half dead, they chose to stay as shadows, so they can't really tell you what it's like to be truly dead," Alex said.  
  
"You shouldn't think of it like that," Harry said.  
  
"I try not to, I only scare myself like this. I don't want to lose all that I have here, though! I know that someday I have to go, but I just hope that it's later and not sooner," Alex said.  
  
"I hope you get your wish," Harry said to her.  
  
"So it doesn't scare you at all? Not in the least bit?" she asked.  
  
"I'll be with my parents," Harry said, "and that's reassuring to me."  
  
"I'll be with my parents, too, but it's still scary to me. You have nothing in death. You can't breath, think, feel, anything!" Alex said.  
  
"You don't know that for sure. You've never died, have you?" Harry asked.  
  
"I see death as ceasing to exist, as being nothing," Alex said.  
  
"Dumbledore once told me something like 'to the well organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.' Whenever I start to see it the way you do, I just remember that," Harry said. Alex nodded.  
  
"I don't want to die," Alex said.  
  
"I don't either," Harry finally admitted, "but you're so young, and you don't need to be worrying about it."  
  
"But you do," Alex whispered. Her face was pale.  
  
"Just try not to think about things like that, Alex. Come on, you need to go up to sleep, you're tired," Harry said. Alex stood up, and they walked together for a while in silence. Finally, Harry headed off towards Gryffindor tower, and Alex headed for the Room of Requirement.  
  
"Where've you been, Harry?" Ron asked as Harry came into the portrait hole.  
  
"Talking to Alex. She's exhausting. Talking to her made me tired. I'm going up to bed," Harry said. Ron stared after him.  
  
"He certainly is acting odd," he heard Ron mutter to Ginny.  
  
"Should I go talk to him?" Ginny asked.  
  
"No, I don't think there's any reason to. We should just let him sleep it off. Alex has some pretty exhausting things to say sometimes," Ron said.  
  
"Has she ever had anything to say about you liking her?" Ginny asked with a grin.  
  
"She doesn't know that I like her," Ron said, "and I'd like to keep it that way." Ginny shook her head in disappointment.  
  
The next day, Harry sat in a chair by the fire, talking to Ron and Ginny. He had talked to Ron about Alex's fears the night before, when he had come up to the dormitory.  
  
"I think it'll be good for Alex to come to the wedding. She really does have some heavy stuff on her mind that she needs to stop worrying about," Ron said.  
  
"She misses her mum. Can you blame her? How would you react if you were an orphan?" Ginny asked, and then she looked at Harry.  
  
"I mean, no, that's not what I meant!" Ginny exclaimed in horror.  
  
"Yes, it is what you meant. Don't worry about it, Gin. I'm used to having no parents. I can't even remember them, not really," he said.  
  
"Oh, Harry, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it!" Ginny said.  
  
"It's okay. I mean, why shouldn't I be? In a couple of weeks the closest things I have to parents are getting married, and all of my friends are going to be there with me," Harry said. Ginny still looked upset.  
  
"What exactly is Alex worried about that she's so exhausting?" Ginny asked.  
  
"Just stuff," Harry said, seeing Ron's eyes. Was Ginny afraid of death too?  
  
"Well, I have to go pack a few things that I'm going to need when I'm at home," Ginny said, and she fled up to her room.  
  
"Ginny's almost as afraid of death as Alex is," Ron said once she was out of sight.  
  
"Are you?" Harry asked him.  
  
"Not really," Ron replied, "are you?"  
  
"I dunno anymore," Harry replied honestly.  
  
The next day, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Alex rode in their own compartment on the Hogwarts Express back to King's Cross. Hermione was going to be staying at Grimmauld Place with Harry and Alex until the wedding, while Ginny and Ron would return to the Burrow for a week or so. They would spend the remainder of the break at Headquarters.  
  
Harry, Alex, and Hermione got off the train and headed to where Sirius was standing with Lupin.  
  
"Melissa came back by Floo Powder last night, and now she and Julie are out shopping," Sirius said, with a mock horrified look on his face.  
  
"We'll take the three of you back to Headquarters," Lupin said.  
  
"And then I need to talk to you about something, Harry," Sirius said. Harry nodded. They were back at Headquarters in no time. Hermione took Alex up to the spare bedroom where the two of them would be sleeping, and Lupin went up to him room as well. Sirius led Harry into the kitchen.  
  
"I have good news, Harry. Dumbledore's said that you can live with Melissa and me," Sirius said. Harry stared at him.  
  
"But how did the two of you manage that? Dumbledore has always gone on and on about how I need to be with the Dursleys because there's some kind of protection there that I can't get anywhere else. He's always seemed so set in his ways, and I've tried so many times to convince him to let me leave there. Why would he change his mind now, when things are finally starting to get dangerous?" Harry asked.  
  
"You never stay at the Dursleys long anyway. And he figures after last summer that Headquarters is just as safe, Dementors attacking you, really, if someone as stupid as Umbridge can get an attack in on you while you're there, then just think what Voldemort could do. Besides, he understands that you'll be happier here, and after what almost happened in the Department of Mysteries, he feels like he can't take it for granted that I'll always be around for you once Voldemort is gone. What's wrong, do you not want to live with us?" Sirius asked.  
  
"No, it's not that at all! All I've ever wanted is to come live with you! I was just thinking about Alex, though. I know exactly how she feels, to have nothing and nowhere to go. I think she's going to have to go live with her aunt," Harry said. Sirius met Harry's eyes.  
  
"Harry, how would you feel about having a sister of sorts?" Sirius asked him. Harry saw that his godfather looked serious and thoughtful, which was not how he usually was at all.  
  
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.  
  
"Melissa and I want to 'adopt' Alex," Sirius said.  
  
"You mean you've talked about this before?" Harry asked.  
  
"Indeed we have. Melissa really likes her, and she says that the two of you get along. I knew Alex's father, and he was a good man. Her mother was a very nice woman, she worked with Melissa for a while, and Alex seems like the kind of person who needs to be around people like you and Melissa and I. Living with Kristin would be the worst thing for her, and Dumbledore agrees. In fact, this whole thing is up to you and Alex," Sirius said.  
  
"Dumbledore wants you to take Alex in?" Harry asked in disbelief.  
  
"Indeed he does. He says the best thing for you and Alex both is to have each other, and to be good friends. Dumbledore says that you will need Alex's help, and that she'll need your guidance. So what do you say?" Sirius asked.  
  
"I think it's a great idea," Harry said, "I know how upset Alex has been about things. But-what about her going to school?"  
  
"Well, he hasn't said anything to her or her aunt yet, but he wants her to stay at Hogwarts for her last year. But don't mention any of this to her yet! Melissa and I are going to talk to her about taking her in after the wedding, and Dumbledore will talk to her about schools sometime when you go back to school. So for now just keep all of this quiet and enjoy yourselves while you still can," Sirius said.  
  
"All right," Harry said, and he left, his mind reeling. They wanted to adopt Alex? It was a good idea, and living with his godparents and Alex would definitely be better than living with his aunt, uncle, and cousin.  
  
It was hard for Harry not to say anything to Alex. Even though she seemed to be having fun at Grimmauld Place with Harry and Hermione, she still seemed unhappy about the situation she was in. Hermione said that at night Alex talked in her sleep, always talking about not wanting to leave Hogwarts and not wanting to go live with her aunt. Harry was glad that Hermione and Alex were getting along well-they hadn't really gotten to know each other before now, and Harry had been afraid that they wouldn't get along well. They sat up together every night, talking and laughing, playing wizard chess, Gobstones, and Exploding Snap. Some nights Sirius, Lupin, Julie and Melissa would join them, other nights it would just be the three of them. Christmas Eve was no exception, they were all gathered together around the fire. Harry and Hermione were wrapped in a game of chess, while Alex sat reading a book about Quidditch.  
  
"The Weasleys'll be here in two days," Alex said cheerfully.  
  
"Yeah, and the wedding's in three," Harry said.  
  
"Tomorrow's Christmas," Hermione pointed out.  
  
"Yeah, I s'pose it is," Harry said.  
  
"I want my parents for Christmas," Alex said sadly. Hermione turned from Alex to Harry, who had a look on his face that told her he was up to something.  
  
"I need to go talk to Sirius and Melissa about something before bed," Harry said, and he got up quickly. Alex and Hermione both stared after him.  
  
"Sirius, I think you should adopt Alex for Christmas," Harry said when he found them upstairs.  
  
"What?" Melissa asked, "We were going to wait until after the wedding, Harry."  
  
"I think that's a great idea, though," Sirius said, "she could use a good Christmas present, and we really didn't know what to get her that she would like."  
  
"Do you think we should talk to her about it tomorrow, then?" Melissa asked.  
  
"Have you no creativity? I think we should wrap up a picture of this house, and make it so that you, Harry, Alex and I are in front of it, and then talk to her about it," Sirius said.  
  
"You're crazy," Harry said.  
  
"That's brilliant," Melissa said, grinning.  
  
"Well, then, let's get to it," Sirius said.  
  
"Good night," Harry said, laughing at them as he walked back to his room. He was about to change into his pajamas when he noticed that there was someone else in his room.  
  
"Hermione, why aren't you in bed? Is Alex already asleep?" Harry asked her.  
  
"Yes, she's already asleep, but I want to know what's going on," Hermione said.  
  
"Nothing's going on," Harry told her.  
  
"Don't lie to me, I know you better than that, you had some idea or another," Hermione said.  
  
"It's nothing, Hermione," he said.  
  
"Harry, you've always told Ron and I everything, and lately you've been SO distant from me especially. Now's the time when you need your friends more than ever, Harry, and you need to be able to trust us," Hermione said. Harry stared at her. For some reason, though she meant well, she was making him angry.  
  
"It's really none of your business, Hermione," Harry snapped at her.  
  
"Harry, please don't get mad at me," she begged. Harry met her eyes, which were pleading.  
  
"Fine. You'll find out tomorrow anyway, but if you must know, Sirius and Melissa want to take Alex in. They're going to be her guardians as well. They were going to wait to tell her about it until after the wedding, but I decided that it might be nice for them to do it on Christmas. I figured Alex would think it was a great present," Harry said.  
  
"Are you sure? I mean, Alex is a little bit sensitive about having no family still, do you really think that she'd like it if they just told her, 'hey, we're going to adopt you?' It might upset her," Hermione said.  
  
"No, it won't. She always tells me how jealous she is of Harry having Sirius and Melissa. She told me that since she can't have her own parents, she wishes she could have someone like them," said a new voice.  
  
"RON?" Hermione asked, turning around. Ron was now standing in the doorway, with Ginny, Fred, and George all behind him.  
  
"Mum decided we should come early. She says she wants us to be able to spend Christmas altogether. We just arrived," Ron said.  
  
"Do Sirius and Melissa know that you're here?" Harry asked them.  
  
"Well, they knew we were coming earlier. Mum wrote to them earlier and asked if it was okay with them," Ginny said.  
  
"Well, it's been a long day, Ron, we're going to go up to bed. We'll catch up tomorrow, Harry," the twins said. They closed the door behind them.  
  
"I still don't think that Alex is going to like this as much as you think," Hermione said.  
  
"Oh, shut up. You're not always right, you know. Just because you think you know everything doesn't meant that you do," Ron said.  
  
"What are you talking about, Ron?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Well, you were wrong about Harry and Ginny, and I'm positive that you're wrong about this, too," Ron said.  
  
"What do you mean, I was wrong about Harry and Ginny?" Hermione asked. She looked from one of them to the other, and they both blushed.  
  
"Well, you were," Ron said. Hermione just stared.  
  
"I was more right than I though about you being distant from me, Harry. What else are you not telling me?" she asked angrily.  
  
"Um, I never told you about the fight that Sirius and Melissa got in because of Alex's aunt. I think I mentioned that to Ron and Ginny at some point, though. Oh, and there was that huge argument that Melissa had with Snape after Malfoy insulted Ali. But that's all," Harry said.  
  
"That's all?" Hermione said.  
  
"I think so. Wait, no, there was the time that Malfoy was in the Restricted Section getting something, and that thing he said about tomorrow or whatever it was. But that really is it," Harry said.  
  
"Why didn't you ever tell me any of this?" Hermione demanded.  
  
"I didn't want to bother you with it. You've just been so busy helping McGonagall. And you haven't said anything to us about what's been going on with that, now have you?" he asked her.  
  
"No, but that's because there isn't really anything to tell, and I'm not allowed to tell, anyway. And besides, it's not like I've told everyone but you, Harry. What happened that made you think I didn't care about what goes on in your life?" Hermione asked.  
  
"I never said that I didn't think you cared," Harry protested.  
  
"Then why didn't you tell me?" she asked.  
  
"Look, Hermione, I'm sorry, it was a mistake not to tell you any of this, and I wish there was some way to make it up to you, but please, don't take it personally," he said.  
  
"How can I not take it personally? You trust Ron more than me, even though I've been there for you always, just like he has. You trust Ginny more than me, even though the two of you have never really been close until last summer, and you trust Alex more than me, even though you've only just met her!" Hermione said.  
  
"I said I was sorry," Harry said. Hermione shook her head.  
  
"Fine. It's okay. Just please, let me know what's going on from now on," she begged.  
  
"I will, I promise," Harry said.  
  
"Thank you," Hermione said.  
  
"Well, I dunno about you, but I'm tired," Ron said. Ginny nodded, and she and Hermione headed off to the room that they now shared with Alex as well.  
  
"Night, Ron," Harry said as the two of them lay down on their beds.  
  
The next morning Harry and Ron woke up to find a pile of presents at the foot of their beds.  
  
"Oh, great, another maroon sweater," Ron said as he pulled it out, "when is Mum going to realize that I don't like maroon?" Harry laughed as he pulled out his own sweater from Mrs. Weasley. His was emerald green. Also inside of the package was a tin of homemade fudge. The next present he unwrapped was from Ron. It was a ticket to a Chudley Cannon's Quidditch game at the beginning of the summer.  
  
"Wow, Ron, thanks!" Harry said.  
  
"Dad used his connections to get tickets for all of us, so we'll be there with you," Ron explained.  
  
The next package was from Hermione. Harry unwrapped it to find 'Hogwarts, A History.' He groaned as he pulled out a note that went with it.  
  
'I know you'll never sit down and read the entire thing, but as many times as we've had to refer to it in the last five years, I figured you might need it,' the note read.  
  
"Oh, I see she gave you 'Hogwarts, A History' as well. Can you believe her? Oh, well, I suppose there might be some more interesting legends in there about the nutty Slytherin clan," Ron said, and Harry grinned. The next package was from Ginny, who had given him a large stash of Fred and George's creations.  
  
"These'll definitely come in handy," Harry said, showing them to Ron.  
  
"That is so unfair, Fred and George won't even give me a discount on their creations, and they give Ginny heaps of their stuff for free," Ron complained as he picked up another of his presents.  
  
Harry pulled out a photo album from Julie and Lupin. The note that went with it said 'I know Hagrid has already given you something like this, with pictures of your parents, but we figured it couldn't hurt for you to have more. Also, we had quite a few pictures of you and your friends that we put in there as well.' Harry opened the book, and on the first page was a picture of his dad, Lupin, and Sirius. They looked no older than eleven or twelve in this picture. Below it was a picture of Melissa, his mum, and Julie. They looked to be the same age. Harry closed it and set it aside for later.  
  
Alex had given Harry a new clock for his room. It was similar to the one that the Weasleys had, instead of telling the time, it said things like 'Time to eat breakfast,' 'Time to go to bed,' and 'You're late.'  
  
The final package was a very large box with holes in it from Sirius and Melissa. Harry unwrapped it slowly, and inside was something gold and hairy. He pulled it out of the blankets, and saw that it was a golden-retriever puppy. Harry had never had a dog (unless you counted Sirius), and he had always thought they were very friendly. He had wanted one, but of course the Dursleys would never have given him a dog. It was hard enough for them to give him the time of day.  
  
"Oh, wow, Harry, a dog! Mum and Dad always said there were too many of us to be able to take care of a dog, too," Ron said.  
  
"What should I name him?" Harry asked.  
  
"Dunno. Just call him 'Dog' until you come up with a name for him," Ron said.  
  
"I'm sure he'll love being called 'Dog,' Ron," Harry said sarcastically. Ron shrugged, and they went downstairs to find Ginny and Hermione in the kitchen.  
  
"Where's Alex?" Ron asked.  
  
"Talking to Sirius and Melissa. I reckon they're telling her that they want to take her in," Ginny said. Sure enough, Alex appeared in the kitchen a moment later, looking very excited.  
  
"They want to adopt me!" Alex exclaimed. Harry grinned.  
  
"I told you so," Ron hissed to Hermione. Hermione just shrugged.  
  
The day passed quickly. Alex took to Fred and George quickly. Harry had never seen her laugh so much. Fred and George showed her all of the inventions they had ever made, starting with the Canary Creams and ending with their newest inventions.  
  
Harry and Ginny played with the puppy most of the day. Harry had decided to name is Godric, after Godric Gryffindor. After that, Fred and George set off a fireworks display inside the house, and then they all ate dinner. Everyone talked loudly and cheerfully throughout the whole meal, and after dinner, Dumbledore showed up and gave Sirius and Melissa some papers to sign. They were now officially Harry and Alex's guardian.  
  
To Harry, though, the best part of the day was when Ginny kissed him, right before they headed off to bed.  
  
Two days later, it was finally time for the wedding. There was a small wizarding church tucked away in a small community nearby. It was white, and it looked very small. However, once they went inside, it appeared to be very large. The rows were packed full of people, a few that Harry recognized, many that he did not. He sat in the front row with Alex, Lupin and Julie. All of the Weasleys were in the row behind them. Harry glanced around, and inside the church he spotted Professor McGonagall, Professor Dumbledore, Tonks, Mad-Eye Moody, Kingsley, and Cornelius Fudge. The church was very noisy, but once the music began the noise died down. Harry looked at Sirius, up by the altar. He looked very handsome in black, and he was grinning broadly. His black hair was neat, and his eyes were twinkling. He was staring at the aisle, where Melissa was walking towards him. She looked lovely as well. She was wearing a long white gown, and a veil covered her face. Despite the veil, Harry could still see that she was beaming. Her eyes were crystal and sparkling, just like Sirius's.  
  
Harry didn't pay much attention to the ceremony. The whole time he just watched his godparents, watched the love in their eyes and the happiness on their faces. An hour later, when the ceremony ended, Harry was more convinced than ever that Sirius and Melissa were absolutely perfect for each other.  
  
After the wedding, Sirius and Melissa left to go to Ireland for a week, while Harry, Alex, and Hermione joined the Weasley's at the Burrow.  
  
Harry spent the evening with Ginny. He was relieved to be alone with her for a change. He wondered if, a few years from now, he and Ginny could be the way that Sirius and Melissa were.  
  
Whether there was a future for them or not, Harry found that he was quite enjoying right now. 


	15. Tara Blake

Harry Potter and the Students of the School of the Sphinx (15/?)  
  
By Angelina Johnson  
  
Chapter 15  
  
Tara Blake  
  
Harry quickly learned that this trip to the Burrow was not going to be the same as his last few. Though Fred and George had been cheerful and outgoing at Grimmauld Place, once they were back home George sort of faded into the background. He was always quiet, and he was not himself at all.  
  
"He misses Alicia," Fred whispered to Harry one afternoon. Fred, Harry, Ron, Alex and Ginny had been out flying, while George had stayed inside.  
  
"I miss her, too. I mean, we were friends, but George really took this hard. He took it harder than Katie and Angel, and they were her best friends. He really loved her. I'm sure I would be the same way if it were Angelina," Fred said.  
  
"Poor George," Harry replied.  
  
"Yeah, poor George. The only person who's been taking it harder than George is Tara Blake. George blames her, in case you hadn't noticed," Fred said. The truth was, Harry HAD noticed. Tara Blake was eighteen, just like the twins. She was pretty, with shoulder-length dark brown hair and green eyes, and she was working in Mr. Weasley's department at the Ministry. She had recently graduated from Beauxbatons, and Harry had noticed that she spent a lot of time at the Weasleys house, talking to Mr. Weasley about work. Mr. Weasley had explained to Harry the first night there that Tara's mother had died when she was born, and that her father had always been busy traveling because of his work. According to Mr. Weasley, Tara had practically been raised by the Spinnets, and she blamed herself for them being gone.  
  
"George only makes things worse for her. Dad wants her to stay with us because he thinks it'll do her some good, cheer her up some, make her feel less guilty, but George treats her like she's the devil or something. He won't talk to her, he won't look at her, and when he does he just glares at her. She told me that she's afraid of him. She's really sensitive, she cries every night over what happened, and George definitely doesn't help matters," Fred said.  
  
"It's not really fair for George to blame her, though, is it? I mean, she didn't force the Spinnets to be their Secret Keepers, they knew what it involved and they made their choice, didn't they?" Harry said. Fred nodded.  
  
"Well, at first George tried to blame himself for not being there for Alicia, but then when he met Tara he decided that it would be easier to blame her," Fred said.  
  
"Oh, that's real nice of him," Harry muttered sarcastically.  
  
"It's not like he does it to make her hurt more, though, he does it to make him hurt less. Surely you, of all people, understand what it's like. Even though it wasn't either of their faults, they feel responsible," Fred explained.  
  
"Well, when you put it that way, I can understand. I blame myself for Cedric, and I blame myself for Sirius almost dying, I know it wasn't my fault, but I still feel like there was something I should have done, and that I should be blamed. With Cedric, neither of us had any idea what in the world was going on, neither of us could have possibly known that the Cup was a Portkey to Voldemort. And it wasn't my fault that Sirius came to protect me. He didn't have to," Harry said.  
  
"Sirius certainly was lucky, mate. Good thing Melissa was there," Fred said.  
  
"I still don't understand how Melissa knew to be there, though. I mean, she told me that your dad tipped her off, but how could your dad have known? Something's missing there, I feel it," Harry said.  
  
"Wait, Melissa said my dad tipped her off? You're right, there's something odd about that. Dad wouldn't have known-unless someone told him," Fred said.  
  
"Someone did," a voice said. Harry and Fred both whirled around to see Tara Blake sitting underneath a tree next to where they were walking.  
  
"I'm sorry. I couldn't help but overhear you. Don't worry, though, all I heard you talking about was your dad being tipped off about the Department of Mysteries thing," she said.  
  
"Oh," Harry said, not bothering to question her. Fred, however, was curious.  
  
"Wait, what'd you mean, someone did? Who did?" Fred asked her.  
  
"I did," Tara replied calmly. Her voice was even and confident, but her hands were shaking.  
  
"What'd you mean, you did? How would you have known? No offense, T, but how are you important enough to know something like that?" Fred asked her. Tara was shaking all over now.  
  
"There's more to me than you know," Tara said.  
  
"That much has become obvious," Fred replied dryly.  
  
"George figured me out almost instantly. And I did hear the whole conversation. I think you should know that George doesn't just blame me because it's easier," Tara replied.  
  
"Look, Tara, I have no idea what you're talking about," Fred said.  
  
"Sometimes what you don't know can't hurt you," Tara said.  
  
"Very rarely, if Voldemort's involved. You know what, Tara, you have got to be the most confusing person I know," Fred said.  
  
"You're right. I am confusing, and I hope that it stays that way. I don't want you to hate me the same way that George does. Enough people hate me as is," Tara said.  
  
"I don't hate you, Tara, and neither does George. He just misses Alicia," Fred said.  
  
"You would hate me, if you knew. So would the rest of your family, and you, Harry, and Hermione, and Alex as well," Tara said.  
  
"If it weren't for you, the closest thing to family I've ever really had would be dead. I doubt I could ever hate you," Harry assured her.  
  
"And no matter what George tells you, Tara, we're your friends," Fred said.  
  
"But Alicia was your friend!" Tara moaned. She was still shaking like mad.  
  
"I've already told you that I don't blame you for what happened," Fred said.  
  
"But you SHOULD. George is right. It is my fault," Tara said.  
  
"Look, Tara, I understand that you miss her. We all do, but you have to accept it and understand that it wasn't your fault," Fred said.  
  
"But it WAS my fault. You don't understand, Fred! My father didn't want the Spinnets to be our Secret Keepers, I DID! It was my choice, and they felt obligated to accept, because we were their Secret Keepers in the First War, that's why my Mum was tortured to death by Voldemort, that's why they felt that they had to return the favor. But they're all gone, all gone because of me," Tara wailed.  
  
"You're not making any sense, Tara. It still wasn't your fault, they could have still refused," Fred said.  
  
"But it was because of ME that we needed a Secret Keeper. It was all because of me. Voldemort was only after me. Not after my dad, after ME," Tara said.  
  
"That's crazy. You're one eighteen year old witch, in a lowly department at the Ministry of Magic. What would he want from you? I mean, you're brilliant, but I still haven't seen any reason for you to be one of Voldemort's most wanted. I was under the impression that Harry here topped that list," Fred said.  
  
"Voldemort doesn't see me as you do. He doesn't see me as the eighteen year old Ministry worker fresh out of Beauxbatons. He sees me as the daughter of a powerful figure, as the Seer of the century, as a vicious spy and a powerful witch. He sees me as a threat, and he doesn't want me around. He wants me dead, and that's the reason that the Spinnets are dead," Tara said. Fred and Harry both stared at her.  
  
"Seer of the century? Spy?" Fred asked.  
  
"Yes, Seer of the century. I've known for a while. Voldemort wants me on his side. I've never made a prediction that was wrong, and I've seen things that will happen, and you know what, Fred? They always do! I hate seeing the future, I hate making all these weird prophecies without meaning to, I HATE IT! I hate putting the people I care about in danger, I hate feeling like I have no control over my life. It scares me, Fred. I scare me," Tara said.  
  
"Tara, I didn't know. I wish there was something I could do to help you," Fred said.  
  
"There's nothing you can do without being added to Voldemort's most wanted list. I can tell you the top ten, if you'd like. That's the advantages to being a spy," Tara said.  
  
"But how are you a spy?" Fred asked her.  
  
"I told you I was a powerful witch. I can transfigure myself, change my appearance without a potion or something, and it goes undetected. I can hide among Death Eater ranks, and the best part is that I confuse the hell out of Voldemort. I'm just afraid of getting caught," Tara admitted.  
  
"So you're a Death Eater?" Fred asked her.  
  
"No. Vitani Pride is a Death Eater. Tara Blake is a Seer, and a spy, and a Ministry of Magic worker, and even a member of the Order of Phoenix. But I am not a Death Eater," Tara said.  
  
"Oh. SO, who's on this most wanted list, then?" Fred asked, obviously trying to change the subject. Harry could tell that Fred was just as shocked as he was.  
  
"Well, Harry's at the top, along with Dumbledore. Then there's me, and Moody. Lupin, Black, Gumtree and Montgomery are all on the list. Oh, and McGonagall, and the last one is Alex Evans," Tara said.  
  
"Alex? Why?" Harry asked. It was the first time he had spoken in a while.  
  
"Well, she's the most intelligent student at the School of the Sphinx, her mum and dad have both been his targets in the past. Oh, and she has the power to control most magical creatures, which is always useful. But the thing that really put her on that most wanted list was becoming a member of the Black family. As soon as the Blacks adopted her, she became a threat. Voldemort knows that anyone who is close to them, and you, Harry, is a threat. He knows that they'll have knowledge and will fight against him to the death," Tara said.  
  
"So Voldemort wants her dead just because she's close to me, Sirius, and Melissa?" Harry asked angrily.  
  
"Well, pretty much," Tara admitted.  
  
"So where does that put the Weasleys, and Hermione? They're close to me, does that make them targets too?" Harry asked bitterly. He hated his role in the war, and he could relate to Tara well.  
  
"Yes and no. Voldemort would, most likely, want the Weasleys anyway, with their loyalty to Dumbledore. Hermione would be a target because she's a Muggle-born and she's one of the smartest students at Hogwarts. But I doubt they'd be in the top twenty-five, at least Hermione, anyway," Tara said.  
  
"So it's all my fault that they're in danger," Harry said.  
  
"They're not in any immediate danger, Harry. Especially since most of them are at Hogwarts. Besides, there are still plenty of people that Voldemort wants before them. They're at the bottom of the top. There's the ten I told you about, and a few Aurors and such," Tara explained.  
  
"But if something happens to them... I don't want them to be in danger because of me," Harry said.  
  
"Believe me, Harry, I can relate," Tara said All of a sudden, Tara clutched her wrist.  
  
"What's wrong?" Fred asked.  
  
"Dark Mark. Voldemort wants us," Tara said. Quickly, her features began to change. Her dark brown hair turned bleach blond, her height deteriorated, her green eyes turned black, her face broadened, and her hair length grew. Harry saw the Dark Mark appear on her arm now that she was transfigured.  
  
"Be careful," Fred whispered, and she Apparated away.  
  
"Dangerous life she leads, isn't it? I can't believe she's kept all of that inside. Oh, and I doubt George has figured any of that out," Fred said.  
  
"You doubt I've figured any of what out?" George asked as he walked up to them.  
  
"What do you know about Tara?" Fred asked his twin.  
  
"I know that she's the reason that Alicia is dead, and I also know that there's more to her than meets the eye. I can tell that she's hiding something, although I have no earthly idea what it is," George said.  
  
"I know that it's not fair for you to blame her for Alicia's death, and I know that it's been hard enough on her without you making things worse. I also know that she's under a LOT of pressure, and that she carries a lot of weight on her shoulders. I know that no matter what she says, she cares what we think about her. She respects us and our family, and it really hurts her that you blame her for Alicia's death, because, as I've told you a million times, she blames herself enough already. I also know that she's doing important things, and that the memory of the Spinnets' death haunts her. It's affecting what she's doing, and I know that her work would be a lot easier if you just told her that you don't blame her. It is not her fault, George, no matter how badly you want it to be, nor is it your fault, George Weasley, and you need to accept that. Once you've accepted it, it will be easier for Tara to accept it," Fred said angrily.  
  
"Look, Fred, I know it's not her fault, and I guess I finally know that it's not my fault. I just miss Alicia, and I'm afraid that if I accept that she's gone, if I accept that it was her choice, then it'll be like I've forgotten her. I don't want to fail her memory," George said.  
  
"You won't forget her, George, and you're not failing her. If anything, you would have been failing her by blaming her death on Tara, someone that she was close to all of her life," Fred said.  
  
"I still just can't believe that she's gone," George whispered, "I miss her so much."  
  
"We all do," Fred said. Harry left the twins together, feeling that they needed to talk alone.  
  
Harry walked inside of the Burrow to find Alex, Ginny, Hermione and Ron seated at a table in the living room. Harry noticed that Ron was gazing at Alex.  
  
"What took you so long? And where's Fred? It's been over half an hour since we headed in," Ron said.  
  
"Well, Fred and I were talking to Tara for a little while, but then she had to go somewhere," Harry said, not wanting to reveal Tara's secret, "and Fred's talking to George now."  
  
"Oh. Tara still seems a bit strange to me," Hermione said.  
  
"Yeah. Yeah, I thought so too, at least at first," Harry said.  
  
"Well, what changed your mind?" Alex asked.  
  
"I can't tell you, at least not yet. And no, Hermione, it's not just you that I'm not going to tell, it's everyone," Harry said, remembering the argument that they had had just recently about him not being open with her.  
  
"Oh, Harry, I told you it didn't matter!" Hermione said, sounding exasperated.  
  
"I know. I'm only kidding, Hermione," Harry said, laughing at her reaction.  
  
"Well, I'm going to help Mum with dinner. Maybe then she won't think I'm worthless anymore," Ron said.  
  
"She doesn't think you're worthless!" Ginny said, laughing at Ron.  
  
"I feel like I should help, too. I mean, I barely know your family, and here I am staying with them. I feel like I ought to do my share of the work," Alex said. She and Ron headed to the kitchen. Hermione, too, rose.  
  
"I have some reading that I need to do," she explained, and she headed towards Ginny's room. That left only Harry and Ginny. Harry met her eyes, and he felt something odd. It wasn't the usual feeling he got when he saw Ginny. Something felt wrong. He felt angry, and he didn't feel like himself at all. He felt lost within himself, and he felt the anger rising. Just as quickly as it had risen, however, he felt the anger subside, and he felt glad to be around Ginny again.  
  
"Are you okay, Harry?" Ginny asked him.  
  
"Yeah, why?" he asked her.  
  
"Oh, no reason. It's just that, well, you seemed odd right then," Ginny said.  
  
"What do you mean, odd?" Harry asked her.  
  
"I dunno, I can't explain it, but something didn't feel right. It's like it wasn't even you," Ginny said.  
  
"Oh. I don't know what you mean," Harry lied quickly. He didn't want to alarm Ginny. What would she think if he told her that he had felt as though he were a different person, as though someone that wasn't him was controlling him. The only time he had ever felt like that was when he had been able to see what Voldemort was doing, the time he had seen Mr. Weasley attacked. He could tell that whatever had come over him wasn't evil, but it hadn't been him.  
  
"Are you sure? Because Harry, I think something weird is happening. And not just to you. To me, too. Sometimes I feel like I'm not myself, like someone else is there. And a couple of times, I've called people by the wrong names," Ginny said.  
  
"Nothing so unusual about that. People mix up names all the time," Harry said.  
  
"I called Hermione Rowena," Ginny said.  
  
"Rowena?" Harry asked.  
  
"Now do you believe that something weird is going on? I would never call Hermione Rowena, Harry, it wasn't me, it was someone else. I KNOW what it's like to be possessed," Ginny reminded him.  
  
"Yeah. Yeah, you do. Hermione's been calling me Godric," Harry admitted.  
  
"What is going on?" Ginny asked.  
  
"I don't know," Harry said.  
  
"I don't know, either. Tara would know something, if it had to do with Voldemort, but I'm not sure that it does," Ginny said.  
  
"You know about Tara?" Harry asked her.  
  
"Yeah. I figured she would tell you sooner or later," Ginny said.  
  
"Well, she did, Mary," Harry said.  
  
"Mary?" Ginny asked him.  
  
"Oh. That's not good, is it?" Harry asked.  
  
"No, it's not good, GOdric!" Ginny said.  
  
"Godric?" Harry asked.  
  
"Oh, dear," Ginny muttered, and she lay her head on his chest. 


	16. The Prophecy of the Founders

Harry Potter and the Students of the School of the Sphinx(16/?)  
  
By Angelina Johnson  
  
Chapter 16  
  
Untitled  
  
The remainder of their time at the Burrow passed very uneventfully. Tara showed up at the Weasley home only a couple of times, otherwise staying either at work or at her own home with her father. Everyone managed to call everyone by the right name, and there were no more attacks. Voldemort seemed to have been laying low since Halloween. Harry was not sure if this were a good or a bad thing. He was afraid that in the absence of attacks Voldemort was planning something really horrible for later on.  
  
At the end of the holiday, Mr. Weasley borrowed a car from the Ministry to take Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Alex to King's Cross. Harry noticed that ever since VOldemort's rise had been recognized, the Ministry had been going out of it's way to do things for Harry and the Weasley's. Mr. Weasley had gotten a raise at the Minsitry, and along with success of Fred and George's joke shop, the Weasley family was no longer in financial trouble.   
  
The ride back to Hogwarts was short. They arrived back at school just in time for dinner. Alex bid them farewell and headed reluctantly off to the Sphinx table, while Ginny, Harry, Ron and Hermione slid into seats at the Gryffindor table. It looked as though most everyone was back from their holiday, although the Creevey brothers and several others were still missing.  
  
Melissa grinned at Harry from the staff table. He grinned back. It was still hard to believe that Melissa and Sirius were now his guardians. It had to be the best thing that had ever happened to him.  
  
After dinner, Harry and Alex went to talk to Melissa.  
  
"So, how was the honeymoon?" Harry asked.  
  
"Yeah, I've always wondered what Ireland was like," Alex said. Melissa grinned.  
  
"It was fun. I'd always wanted to go there, and Sirius figured that this was the perfect excuse for us to go. How was the Burrow, then?" Melissa asked.  
  
"Interesting," Harry said.  
  
"And what's interesting supposed to mean?" Melissa asked them.  
  
"Have you met Tara Blake?" Harry asked.   
  
  
  
"As a matter of fact, I have met Tara Blake," Melissa said.  
  
"That's what I meant by interesting," Harry said. Alex looked puzzled, and Harry realized that only he and Ginny knew.  
  
"Wait, what's this about Tara?" Alex asked. Melissa shook her head.  
  
"It's nothing that concerns you. You don't need to know about it," Melissa said.  
  
"Then why does Harry know?" Alex asked. Alex seemed confused rather than angry, as Harry was sure that he would have been if things were being kept from him.  
  
"That's what I'm wondering," Melissa said.  
  
"Oh. Well, I'll take that as my cue to leave," Alex said. She smiled at Melissa before leaving.  
  
"Well, Harry, I'm not sure how you know about Tara," Melissa began.  
  
"She told me," Harry interrupted.  
  
"Well, I'm not sure WHY she told you, Harry, but I suppose you of all people have a right to know. I just want to make sure that you don't tell anyone else, not even Ron, Hermione, Ginny, or Alex," Melissa said.  
  
"Tara told Ginny, too," Harry said.  
  
"Oh. Well, I suppose I understand that as well. She might have to train..." Melissa began.  
  
"Train? Train for what?" Harry asked.  
  
"It's not important. Not yet, so don't ask, and don't worry about it until we know for sure. For now, it's not something that you need to know," Melissa said.  
  
"Fine," Harry said, "I won't ask."  
  
"Good. Harry, please make sure that you don't let what you know about Tara slip to anyone else. Tara is one of the most important weapons we have in this war. Aside from Snape, she's our most valuable spy, and she's the Seer we need. If someone finds out about her identity, it could put her in danger, and that's one of the last things that we need," Melissa said.  
  
"I understand. I was just wondering..." Harry began. He wanted so badly to try and find out what was going on. Why had Hermione and Ginny been calling him Godric, why had he sometimes been feeling like he had no control over him, over what was happening  
  
"You were just wondering what, Harry?" Melissa asked.  
  
"It's nothing," Harry said quickly. Although Melissa was his godmother, and his guardian, he didn't feel as though he was ready to confide his fears and his concerns in her yet. What he wanted was to talk to Sirius, but there was certainly no way for him to do that. He had broken the damn mirror. He had told Sirius about it at Christmas, and Sirius had said that he would try to repair it while Harry was at school. However, while Sirius still had both mirrors, there was no way for him to talk to Sirius. The Floo Network was too risky, and it wasn't like Sirius could come to Hogwarts.   
  
"Are you sure? Because if you want to talk, I'm here. Or, if you would prefer, I could get Sirius if you need to talk to him," Melissa said. Harry looked at her hopefully. It was as if she had read his mind.  
  
"But wouldn't that be a problem..." Harry began.  
  
"It would be no problem at all. I understand that it's probably much easier for you to confide in Sirius, simply because you've known him longer. You and I are alike in that way. For years, I would go to James with my problems instead of Lily or Julie, simply because James was my cousin and I had known him my whole life, while I had only been close to Julie and Lily for a short amount of time," Melissa said.  
  
"Oh," Harry said stupidly.  
  
"Would you like to talk to Sirius, then? I've been looking for an excuse to get him here to Hogwarts anyway," Melissa said with a wicked grin.  
  
"Yeah. Yeah, I'd like that," Harry said. Melissa smiled at him and led him to her office. She threw a handful of Floo Powder into the fire, yelled 'Number 12, Grimmauld Place', and stuck her head into the fire. Harry didn't hear the conversation that went on on the other end, but after a minute or so Melissa pulled her head out of the fire, and Sirius appeared shortly afterward.  
  
"I'll leave you two alone for a while, then," Melissa said, and she left her office.  
  
"I brought you this, for next time," Sirius said, and he handed Harry the mirror, which was newly fixed.  
  
"Thanks," Harry said.  
  
"Now, what exactly is going on? You've only been back for about an hour, what could possibly have happened already?" Sirius asked him.  
  
"Well, it didn't happen today, exactly. It's just, there are some things that I don't understand," Harry said.  
  
"What kinds of things?" Sirius asked suspiciously.  
  
"Well, I don't think that it has anything to do with Voldemort, but lately there have been times when I haven't felt like myself. Times when it feels like there's someone else inside of me, someone sharing my body. I would think that I'm just going nutters, like the Ministry said, but Ginny and Hermione have been feeling the same thing. And, well, they've both called me 'Godric' at least once. Ginny said that she called Hermione 'Rowena' several times, and I called Ginny 'Mary' the other day," Harry said.  
  
"Well, if it were just the names thing, Harry, I'd tell you that you were getting paranoid, but you say you feel like you've been possessed?" Sirius asked.  
  
"Not possessed, exaclty. I haven't done anything against my will, and I've always been aware of what I'm doing, it's just that sometimes I feel like I'm looking through someone elses eyes, like I'm sharing someone elses memories," Harry said.  
  
"And your friends have really been feeling the same things?" Sirius asked.  
  
"Well, I haven't actually talked to Hermione about it, but that's what Ginny said when I talked to her," Harry confided. His godfather looked at him through narrowed eyes.  
  
"Godric, you say? And Mary, and Rowena? I've heard something about this, but why now? Why you? What's the use? Unless..." Sirius said. Harry looked at him.  
  
"Unless what? What do you know?" Harry asked.  
  
"Well, Harry, I would think that by now you would have known something about prophecies," Sirius said.  
  
"Yeah, I suppose I do. What does that have to do with anything, though, Sirius?" Harry asked.  
  
"Prophecies must be fulfilled," Sirius said. He seemed distant.  
  
"I still don't understand, Sirius," Harry said.  
  
"You're a smart kid, Harry. I would think that you would be able to put the pieces together," Sirius said.  
  
"What pieces?" Harry asked, puzzled. Sirius usually was straightforward and blunt, rather than cryptic and evasive like he was being now.  
  
"The founders," Sirius murmured.  
  
  
  
"What about the bloody founders?" Harry asked him.  
  
"Why, Harry, you yourself told me over Christmas break. I believe it was Ginny who told you that the founders live again in you," Sirius said.  
  
"Ginny never said that the foudners live again in us. She told me last October that Hermione was talking in her sleep, and that she said 'they live again, they live in us. It is only a matter of time before they show themselves. The time will come, and all.... All will be lost.' But knowing Hermione it was just some thing that she had read somewhere," Harry said with a shrug.  
  
"Then how do you explain what you've been feeling? How do you explain that your friends have been calling you Godric, and that you've been calling Ginny Mary? It all fits, Harry," Sirius said.  
  
"But that had to have been something that Hermione read somewhere," Harry said. He refused to believe that the Founding Four were living again through him and his friends.  
  
"Perhaps. Or maybe it was something that Hermione saw," Sirius said.  
  
"Hermione's not a Seer," Harry said.  
  
"No, Hermione is not a Seer. I didn't mean See like that. I meant that maybe Hermione saw something when she was watching Voldemort. You know, Tara Blake's a great actress, but when she has a vision, it doesn't matter what her appearance, she will predict things. She may be a useful spy for us, but unfortunately, sometimes Voldemort learns things from her that we would prefer he now know," Sirius said.  
  
"So you mean Tara predicted, in front of Voldemort, that the founders were going to live again, thorugh other people?" Harry asked.  
  
"Well, no, but Tara has made other predictions in front of Voldemort that Hermione has seen. However, that particular prophecy, Harry, was deep inside the School of the Sphinx, in a chamber not unlike the Chamber of Secrets. Only a Slytherin could enter, and only a Slytherin could contain the spirit within," Sirius said.  
  
"So that's what he wanted from the School of the Sphinx? He wanted that prophecy?" Harry said.  
  
"Well, that's part of it," Sirius said.  
  
"Sirius, what did you mean by the spirit within? Mary Slytherin didn't have a basilisk running around her school, did she?" Harry asked.  
  
"No, Mary Slytherin didn't hide a basilisk in her school. She hid something much more dangerous," Sirius said.  
  
"What's more dangerous than a fifty foot snake that kills you just by looking at you?" Harry asked, half sarcastic, half serious.  
  
"Her soul," Sirius said.  
  
"What do you mean, her SOUL?" Harry asked Sirius.  
  
"Her soul. Her spirit. The essence of Mary Slytherin was preserved inside of that bloody school of hers, and Voldemort set it free. He wants to interfere. The reason that the founders were going to live again was to help, to aid in the defeating of Voldemort. Unfortunately, the one thing that could prevent their aid is Mary Slytherin. As long as his little sister wasn't involved, Salazar Slytherin cooperated with the others well enough, but Voldemort's bloody unleashed the spirit of Mary Slytherin to stop them from working their magic," Sirius said.  
  
"But we don't really need the Founders to defeat Voldemort, do we?" Harry asked.  
  
"No, you don't NEED the founders, but they would have been a help, I can promise you that. It's too late now, you just have to make sure that disaster doesn't ensue. Don't let history repeat itself, Harry," Sirius said.  
  
"What do you mean, don't let history repeat itself?" Sirius said.  
  
"Look, Harry, I don't understand this much more than you do. All I know is that the presence of the Founders will change everything, and that you need to be careful. The Founders may have been great people, but they caused bad things," Sirius said. Harry nodded.  
  
"So you really think that they're inside of me and my friends?" Harry asked.  
  
"It looks like it, doesn't it? I can't help you much more, Harry, just be careful and make sure that your friends are as well. From what you've said, you must be Gryffindor, Hermione should be Rowena Ravenclaw, and Ginny, I suppose, is Mary Slytherin," Sirius said.  
  
"So what do I do?" Harry asked.  
  
"Harry, I've already told you that I can't really help you any. Like I said, be careful. And try and figure out who Hufflepuff and Salazar Slytherin are," Sirius recommended.  
  
"Did anyone know that this was going to happen? Is this another one of those 'things that totally concerns Harry that we can't tell him because we THINK that it's for his own good'?" Harry asked. Sirius looked at him seriously.  
  
"Look, Harry, I know that there are things that have been kept from you in the past that were important, and things that you should have been told, but this isn't one of them, and you can't blame Albus for not telling you, he was only looking out for you. He thought he was helping you. Everyone makes mistakes," Sirius said.  
  
"Not everyone makes mistakes that nearly end up with you dead," Harry muttered.  
  
"Well, Harry, I hate to break it to you, but I think that particular honor belongs to you, not to Dumbledore," Sirius said with a small grin.  
  
"But if Dumbledore had told me..." Harry protested.  
  
"He learns from his mistakes, Harry. I assure you, no one had any idea that this particular prophecy concerned you as well," Sirius said.  
  
"Fine. I believe you," Harry said.  
  
"Good. Then go to bed, Harry, it's getting late. I'll talk to you soon-but make sure that you use the mirror rather than sticking your head in a fire," Sirius said.  
  
"I will. G'night, Sirius," Harry said, grinning at his godfather. Sirius ruffled his hair before sending him on his way to Gryffindor tower.  
  
Harry was nearly back to Gryffindor tower when he ran into Nearly Headless Nick.  
  
"Hullo, Nick," Harry said to the Gryffindor ghost. The ghost gave him a rare grin.  
  
"Hullo, Harry! I haven't talked to you in a while," Nick said.  
  
"How have you been?" Harry asked. He wanted to talk to Ginny and Hermione about what he had just been told, but he didn't want to be rude to Nick, who was a likeable ghost.  
  
"All right, I suppose. The Bloody Baron's been praticularly unbearable, lately, with the rise of You-Know-Who," Nick said.   
  
"Why would the Bloody Baron be interested in Voldemort?" Harry asked.  
  
"Well, the Dark Lord's a descendant of Slytherin, as is the Bloody Baron. That's why he's the Slytherin ghost," Nick said.  
  
"But does that mean that all of the ghosts are descendants of the Founder whose house they represent?" Harry asked curiously.  
  
"Well, now that you ask, I think so. I've never actually asked the Grey Lady if she's related to Rowena Ravenclaw, but she looks an awful lot like Rowena did, so I assume that she is," Nick said.  
  
"So that means that you're related to Godric Gryffindor?" Harry asked.  
  
"Indeed," Nick said, "Why? Is there anything that you need to know from me?" Nick asked.  
  
"No. No, not yet," Harry said.  
  
"Well, g'bye, Nick," Harry said and he ran the rest of the way to Gryffindor tower. 


	17. Hufflepuff and Slytherin

Harry Potter and the Students of the School of the Sphinx  
  
By Angelina Johnson  
  
Chapter 17-Hufflepuff and Slytherin  
  
He was in the forest again. Beside him Alex was shivering. Malfoy wrapped his cloak around her. The darkness was so thick that you could cut it with a knife.  
  
"Lumos!" Harry said, and a light appeared at the end of his wand. Alex and Malfoy did the same. They heard hoof prints in the distance. Harry had never seen this centaur before. She was a female, ans she looked very much like Firenze did.  
  
"Who are you?" Harry asked her.  
  
"Who I am is not important, but if you must know, my name is Caminiti. I believe you know my brother, Firenze," she said.  
  
"You're Firenze's sister?" Harry asked, but the centaur met his eyes.  
  
"Turn back, Harry Potter. You and your friends must turn back," Caminiti said.  
  
"Turn back? What lies ahead of us?" Harry asked her. Behind him, he vaguely heard Alex making some sort of noise. He stared into the centaurs eyes.  
  
"You MUST turn back, Harry Potter. Do not bother with what lies before you. You must save yourself," Caminiti said.  
  
"We have to keep going, Harry," Alex said. She seemed just as determined as the centaur.  
  
"What's going on?" Malfoy demanded. "You want us to go, the centaur wants us to leave! What lies ahead, damn it?"  
  
"Her. She lies ahead. We can't leave her-she's injured!" Alex said.  
  
"You mean it was true? She went through with it?" Malfoy asked. He almost seemed concerned.  
  
"She lost control, I think. Sometimes it's hard," Alex said.  
  
"Potter was supposed to make sure she didn't," Malfoy said angrily.  
  
"It's not my fault, damn it, Malfoy! I can't be her keeper, I couldn't watch her at all times! I'm sorry if I'm human and I make mistakes!" Harry said angrily.  
  
"Will you two stop fighting! We have to help her!" Alex said.  
  
"No!" the centaur said desperately.  
  
"We won't listen to you. You've given us no valid reason not to go to help our friend," Alex said.  
  
"Excuse me? Friend?" Malfoy said.  
  
"Oh, shut it, Draco! We're wasting time! Now either you tell us why we shouldn't go on or we do! The animals told me that she's here, that she's ahead and that she can still be helped," Alex said.  
  
"The Dark Lord. The Dark Lord lies ahead. It's a trap!" Caminiti said desperately.   
  
"What do you mean by trap? Is she there, or not?" Harry asked angrily.  
  
"She's ahead, yes, but the Dark Lord knows that as well and he wants you to come for her! You can't allow yourselves to fall into his trap," Caminiti said.  
  
"Damn his trap. We're going," Malfoy said.  
  
"What do you mean, WE'RE going? You're practically a bloody Death Eater, Malfoy! We're not taking you anywhere where Voldemort is, you'll probably hand us right over to him and get some nice reward!" Harry roared.  
  
"I don't want to help the bloody Dark Lord, Potter! I don't want to be one of his little minions! I WANT OUT OF MY FATHER'S SHADOWS! JUST BECAUSE HE'S EVIL DOESN'T MEAN THAT I WANT TO BE!" Malfoy yelled.  
  
And then Harry woke up.  
  
"Bloody hell, I just dreamed Malfoy didn't want to be evil," Harry whispered.  
  
"Believe in what you dream, Harry Potter," a voice said. The voice sounded like the wind, mysterious and far off.  
  
"Who's there?" Harry demanded. It was still dark outside, and Dean, Neville, Seamus and Ron were all still asleep. There was no answer to his question.  
  
"Who are you?" Harry demanded angrily. He feld cold, almost the way he felt around the Dementors. He tried thinking about a happy memory, something that could make him feel better. He remembered his and Ginny's first kiss, he remembered beating Ravenclaw and the School of the Sphinx in Quidditch, and the fact that all they had to do was beat Hufflepuff to win the cup. However, Harry felt nothing change. He still felt cold, chilled almost.  
  
"Happy memories won't help you now, Harry," the voice said.  
  
"What's going on? Who are you?" he demanded.  
  
"It's not so much WHO I am, but more what I am," the voice said. It seemed so far away, so unreal.  
  
"All right, then, WHAT are you?" Harry corrected himself.  
  
"You will know, Harry Potter, you will know. When the time is right, you will understand me," the voice said.  
  
"I'm sick of waiting to understand things!" Harry muttered.  
  
"I understand, Harry. I'm here, with you. I'll help you," the voice said.  
  
"What do you mean, you're here with me? Why can't I see you?" Harry asked.  
  
"You can't see me because you are me. You're exactly like I was, Harry Potter, and I live in you," the voice said.   
  
"Godric?" Harry whispered when the realization dawned on him.  
  
"Go back to sleep, Harry Potter," he said.  
  
"No, wait! I need your help," Harry said.  
  
"That is true. My help is not required yet, though," Godric said.  
  
"But, Godric, my godfather said that I need to figure out who Hufflepuff and Slytherin are in as soon as I could," Harry said.  
  
"I can not tell you that, Harry. You will know soon enough. At times your friends-or even you-have lost control," Godric said.  
  
"Do I know the people that they're inside of?" Harry demanded.  
  
"Yes. Yes, you do, and they are strong souls. They fight Helga and Salazar just as much as you fight me," Godric said.  
  
"I don't fight you!" Harry protested.  
  
"You do it without knowing that you are. You shut me out, you shut your thoughts off. The only time you have ever lost control was with the Weasley girl, because you allow yourself to open up around her, the same way I used to be around Mary Slytherin," Godric said.  
  
"So Ginny is Mary Slytherin?" Harry asked.  
  
"I believe you and your godfather already deducted that," Godric said.  
  
"And we were right about Hermione? Being Ravenclaw?" Harry asked.   
  
"Yes. Yes, your friend Hermione is inhabited by Rowena," Godric said with a hint of sadness in his voice.  
  
"Are you sure you can't tell me who Slytherin and Hufflepuff are?" Harry asked Godric.  
  
"You need not know yet. It is Mary and Rowena that you need to be wary of. The ones they live within are not as strong-they will not be able to fight forever, and you must not allow history to repeat itself. Lord Voldemort's plot must be stopped, Harry Potter," Godric said.  
  
"But Godric, how can I stop it if you won't tell me who Slytherin and Hufflepuff are? Aren't they an important piece of the puzzle?" Harry asked.  
  
"Sleep, Harry," Godric insisted.  
  
"I need to know!" Harry insisted, but he realized that he was now alone. Harry could still vaguely feel Gosric's presence inside of him, he had been able to feel it a lot recently, ever since he and Sirius had found out what was happening. However, he had felt different when he had been speaking to Godric, and he knew that right now he would be unable to question Godric any further right now. He was about to lay back down and try to sleep, as Godric had advised, when Ron spoke.  
  
"Harry, mate, who were you talking to that whole time? I think you're losing it," Ron said sleepily.  
  
"You mean you didn't hear him?" Harry asked.  
  
"Bloody hell, Harry, there was no one else, just you. Must be some snake running around the castle or something," Ron murmured.  
  
"It wasn't a snake," Harry insisted.  
  
"I'm sure it wasn't, mate, but even if it were I'd be too tired to care. Tell the damn thing that you'll talk to it when no one around you is trying to sleep," Ron said. Harry sighed, and lay down. Of course only he could hear Godric-Godric was inside of his thoughts, he wasn't an actual person that was walking around and could talk to people.  
  
Harry didn't dream this time, but that was only because he didn't sleep. He tossed and turned for the next few hours, remembering both the dream and the conversation that had followed it. Would his dream actually come true? With the centaur, and with Alex and Malfoy?  
  
Dawn was still an hour away, and Harry decided that it was useless to try and sleep now. He rummaged through his trunk, and finally found what he was looking for. He grabbed the mirror, and took it down to the Common Room. In the few months since Sirius had given him the restored mirror, Harry had talked to his godfather many time. Sirius had been up to Hogwarts a few times to visit Melissa, and Harry found that he missed Sirius when he was at school. He felt closer to his godfather than he ever had, especially now that Sirius was his official guardian.  
  
"Sirius? Sirius Black?" Harry said into the mirror.  
  
"It's five o'clock in the morning, Harry," Sirius replied, his face appearing in the mirror with a grin.  
  
"Yet you don't seem asleep," Harry said, returning the grin.  
  
  
  
"Up early. Remus and I are leaving shortly to go on an errand for Dumbledore," Harry said.  
  
"Leaving Julie behind?" Harry asked, grinning. He had gotten to know Julie well enough to think that she would not like the thought of Sirius and especially Remus going off on some possibly dangerous mission without her.  
  
"No, I wish we were leaving her behind, because that would mean that she wouldn't have to go to Hogwarts and teach Potions for the next couple of weeks. Snape's coming along on our mission," Sirius muttered darkly.  
  
"No Snape for two weeks? What a pity," Harry said sarcastically.  
  
"Oh, yes, you seem absolutely heartbroken, Harry, and I'm sure your classmates will agree. I'm going to go bloody insane, Harry. Dementors I can handle, but Severus Snape?" Sirius said. Harry laughed.  
  
"It could be worse. It could be twelve years of Snape," Harry said. Sirius nodded.  
  
"Now, what did you need, Harry? I doubt that you just got up for a five a.m. chat," Sirius said.  
  
"No, I didn't come for a five a.m. chat. I talked to Godric," Harry said.  
  
"What do you mean, you talked to Godric?" Sirius asked.  
  
"I mean that I had this weird dream. where I was walking through the forest with Malfoy and Alex. This centaur came and gave us a warning, told us not to go on, because the Dark Lord lay ahead, but the Dark Lord had someone, and Alex refused to go back. Then Malfoy said he didn't want to be evil, and I woke up and talked to Godric," Harry said.  
  
"Now, I'll get back to your dream later, but first-what do you mean by you talked to him?" Sirius asked.  
  
"As in I had a conversation with him. I would say something, and he would reply in my mind," Harry said.  
  
"Did he take control of you?" Sirius asked.  
  
"No, I still had control of me, but I felt his presence along with mine. He said he was here to help me, and that I fought hard against him and that he couldn't gain control even if he wanted to. He told me that the reason I hadn't found out who Hufflepuff and Slytherin were yet is because they're inside of strong hosts, and they haven't been able to gain control. He said that Ginny and Hermione are weaker, and that's why I've been able to see Mary Slytherin and Rowena Ravenclaw in them. He said soon enough I'll know who Hufflepuff and Slytherin are," Harry said.  
  
"Well, there's not really anything you can do but let him help you, and wait. Now, what was this about a centaur?" Sirius asked Harry.  
  
"She said that it was a trap, that Voldemort had captured her because he wanted to lure me. But Voldemort really had whoever it was," Harry said.  
  
"Well, you can't believe centaurs. What was the name of this phony?" Sirius asked.  
  
"Her name was Caminiti," Harry replied. Sirius' face paled.  
  
"Caminiti? As in Firenze's sister Caminiti?" Sirius asked. Harry nodded.  
  
"Harry, if you ever meet her, listen to her," Sirius said.  
  
"But you just said that every centaur is a phony," Harry protested.  
  
"Firenze and Caminiti are not ordinary centaurs. I've met Caminiti, Harry. She doesn't lie, Harry, she'll help you," Sirius said.  
  
"Did you listen to her?" Harry demanded.  
  
"No. None of us did, and each one of us regrets it," Sirius said.  
  
"What did she tell you?" Harry asked.  
  
"It's not important, Harry," Sirius said.  
  
"So if it comes to what happened in my dream, if it comes to going to face Voldemort in order to save someone I care about, you want me to listen to Caminiti and turn back?" Harry demanded angrily, "She said so herself that Voldemort truly had someone!"  
  
"Look, Harry, you have to face Voldemort anyway. That's what it has to come down to. But I have a feeling that there's more you didn't see yet. Caminiti is never vague," Sirius said.  
  
"So you want me to listen to a centaur?" Harry demanded.  
  
"Yes, I do. Look, Harry, I need to head out. If you have any more problems, go to either Melissa or Julie. If you absolutely need me, I'll have the mirror. Be safe, Harry," Sirius said.  
  
Harry bid farewell to his godfather, then he sat on the couch and watched the sun rise through the windows of Gryffindor tower.  
  
Later that day, Harry was sitting in Potions class, Julie beaming at them from the front of the room.  
  
"Professor Snape has been called away, so I will be your teacher for the next couple of weeks," Julie said, beaming.   
  
"Today, we'll be making Veritaserum. Professor Dumbledore feels that in the dark days to come it would be wise for you to at least know how to brew the potion," Julie said. Everyone was now very interested.  
  
"I'll be partnering you up. Harry, you'll be partnered with Hermione," Julie said. Harry beamed at her. Julie went thorugh, pairing the rest of the class. At the end, there were only two people left.  
  
"Alex, you'll be partnered with Mr. Malfoy," Julie said. Alex scowled, and Malfoy didn't look too happy either.  
  
For the next forty five minutes, the class worked hard, closely following Julie's instructions. Harry and Hermione's potion was perfect, according to Julie. Harry enjoyed the lesson, and he wished that Julie could be the permanent teacher. Most of the class was doing very well. However, Alex and Malfoy weren't very successful.  
  
"Malfoy, can't you make this stupid potion? I would have thought that your father would have tought you all sorts of Dark Arts and things like this!" Alex said.  
  
"I've made Veritaserum before, Evans, so you'd best not argue with me! And at least I have a father to teach me things!" Malfoy said. Alex glared at him, a dangerous anger in her eyes.  
  
"I have a father. His name is Sirius Black," she whispered.  
  
"He's not your real father. I at least have a real family, Evans!" Malfoy whispered.  
  
"I'd rather have parents that are gone that I could remember with pride than have parents who are followers of Voldemort," Alex replied calmly.  
  
"Are you insulting my family, Evans?" Malfoy said angrily.  
  
"I believe you've already insulted mine," Alex replied.  
  
"There are only two people that could possibly be worse to be partners with, and that would be Godric and Rowena over there," Malfoy said. Harry sat up straight.  
  
"Oh, can't you at least try to get along with them, Salazar? For me?" Alex asked.  
  
"Helga, he-they-my sister!" he said angrily.   
  
"Is there a problem, Mr. Malfoy, Miss Evans?" Julie interupted.  
  
Alex and Malfoy both assured them that there was nothing wrong, but Harry knew that wasn't true. He had finally figured out who Slytherin and Hufflepuff were. Now all he had to do was put the pieces together and let everything fall into place. 


	18. Snogging WHO?

Harry Potter and the Students of the School of the Sphinx  
  
By Angelina Johnson  
  
Chapter 18- Quidditch, Questions Asked, Questions Answered and Questions Arriving  
  
Dedication- emalfoy, this chapter's for you! Thanks for motivating me to get off my 'fat lazy butt' and write the next chapter!  
  
"Interesting argument you had with Malfoy the other day in Potions. I personally think you should have slugged him. I doubt Julie would have minded," Harry said to Alex. It was three days later, and Harry and Alex were in the library. It was the first chance Harry had gotten to talk to his 'sister' alone since he had figured out that Alex was being inhabited by Helga Hufflepuff. Harry had been afraid to say anything in front of Ron, who still seemed content following Alex around. Harry had noticed over the past couple of weeks that Alex had less and less patience for Ron, but he doubted that Ron had noticed a thing.  
  
"Oh, that. It was nothing-Draco apologized for it," Alex said.  
  
"Malfoy APOLOGIZED?" Harry asked, shocked.  
  
"Yeah, he apologized. He's not as bad as you think he is, Harry. He's not the same guy that you've known for six years," Alex said.  
  
"You've only just met him, Lex, I highly doubt that he has changed a bit," Harry said.   
  
"You don't know-but I can't tell you. You'll know soon enough," Alex said.  
  
"I just don't understand how you can sit there and tell me that Draco Malfoy isn't such a bad guy when three days ago he was insulting you for having no family and saying that you were one of the worst possible partners he could have had?" Harry asked.  
  
"Look, Harry, I can't explain right now. You wouldn't understand. But Malfoy's not a bad guy, really, he just has a bad image. Now, what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?" Alex asked.  
  
"Oh, that. Alex, do you know anything about the legend of Mary Slytherin, or any of the prophecies that surround her and the Founding Four?" Harry asked.  
  
"Why, do you have to do a report on it or something?" Alex asked him.  
  
"No, I don't have to write a report on it, I was just asking," Harry said.  
  
"That's sort of a random thing to ask, don't you think?" Alex asked him.  
  
"Not really," Harry said.  
  
"What do you mean, not really? Harry-what's going on?" Alex asked him.  
  
"Well, the legends goes like this," Harry told her, opening 'Hogwarts-A History'.  
  
"Wait, Harry, before you tell me the bloody legend I should know who Mary Slytherin is," Alex said. Harry read her the passage.  
  
"Mary Slytherin was the younger half-sister of Salazar Slytherin. She was half-veela, and her brother was ashamed to call her his sister because she was born to his father and a veela woman while his parents were married. Salazar Slytherin preferred not to have anything to do with his sister, or her three best friends, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Godric Gryffindor. However, Salazar was forced to come into close contact with them at school, where he was in the same year as them. Mary was actually four years younger than the others. In her final year at school, Mary came up with an idea to found a school of magic with her three best friends. She confided her idea in her brother, who then took the idea to Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. Without Mary, the four founded Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Mary Slytherin was angry with Salazar for stealing her idea, but she understood that her powers were not nearly as great as those of her brother and the other three, and she assumed that what had happened was for the best. However, once she graduated she joined the founders of Hogwarts and helped them in the early years of the school. However, arguments started to rise between Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin over the purity of blood of students. However, the argument was quickly settled, and Slytherin allowed the others to let Muggle-borns and half-bloods in, as long as they were not put into his house. However, Salazar Slytherin left the school briefly to join his dying mother, and while he was gone his younger sister was in charge of choosing the new students that were placed into Slytherin House. Mary Slytherin allowed Muggle-borns into the house that Salazar Slytherin prided on their purity of blood. When Salazar Slytherin returned, he was furious at his sister's 'softness,' and he threatened her with an ancient prophecy. Godric Gryffindor in particular defended Mary's actions, and he said that Mary had done the right thing and been open-minded. Slytherin was furious, and he used the Unforgivable Curses on his sister, and he controlled her mind. Salazar Slytherin forced his own sister to attack Rowena Ravenclaw, and then he refused to take the blame for Mary's actions. Salazar would have succeeded in forcing Mary to kill Rowena had it not been for Godric Gryffindor's intervention. Gryffindor threatened Mary, and said that if she ever returned to Hogwarts, he would kill her. Salazar Slytherin left shortly after his sister. The reasons why are unknown."  
  
"Wow. Salazar Slytherin was even loonier than I thought," Alex said. Harry nodded.  
  
"Yeah, definitely a nutter. But the prophecies about them-the prophecies are even weirder," Harry said.  
  
"What does an ancient prophecy have to do with us, Harry?" Alex demanded.  
  
"Just listen," Harry assured her.  
  
"The one will come. She will be of veela and demon, and she will be the sibling of a monster. She will be the one pure thing in a family of unclean. However, the monster will corrupt her, and the pure one will be deflowered by the lion before the coming of age. He will take down all of her barriers, and she will be weak and vulnerable. Her brother, angry by her happiness, will seek to destroy her happiness and her reputation. The monster will force her to become what he is, and she will harm one of the others. The lion will force her to leave their midst, and she will go to form another school. She will teach all kinds of creatures, and because of her downfall, a monster will rise. She allows the serpent, the monster, to live on, and a new, greater monster will come."  
  
"That's the prophecy?" Alex asked. Harry nodded.  
  
"And it meant Mary Slytherin?" Harry nodded again.  
  
"Voldemort. It all comes down to Voldemort, right?" Alex asked.  
  
"Of course," Harry said.  
  
"I still don't see why this has anything to do with us. Well, aside from the fact that Voldemort is around because Mary Slytherin didn't kill some snake," Alex said.  
  
"Her brother was the snake," Harry said, rolling his eyes.  
  
"Oh! That makes much more sense, then," Alex said.  
  
"Right. I thought they said you were supposed to be brilliant," Harry said.  
  
"Oh, shut up and tell me what the hell this has to do with us," Alex said in an almost hiss.  
  
"So far, it doesn't really have anything to do with us. But all of that-leads to this," Harry said, and he read the final prophecy.  
  
"They live again, they live in us. It is only a matter of time before they show themselves. The time will come, and all.... All will be lost."  
  
"So? That doesn't have to mean us," Alex said, "And besides, there are ways around prophecies-loopholes and such. That could mean that all will be lost for evil."  
  
"Well, there was an easy way out, but that's already gone," Harry said.  
  
"What do you mean, it's already gone? How could things have been easy?" Alex demanded.  
  
"History is going to repeat itself, Lex. The founders are reliving their lives-through us. And don't argue, because I heard you call Malfoy Salazar the other day, and I saw you go all nice on him just because Helga Hufflepuff was in you," Harry said.  
  
"Get to the damn point, Harry," Alex said.  
  
"There's a reason your school was destroyed. There was something inside it. Or rather, someone. Someone's soul," Harry said.  
  
"Mary Slytherin," Alex said.  
  
"Oh, damn, I was hoping I was wrong. You mean to say that you're Gryffindor then? Why can't anything go right?" Alex asked.  
  
"What are you ranting about now? You mean to say you've already figured all this out?" Harry asked her.  
  
"Harry, it was my school. I'm just as nosy as you or Ron or Hermione. I did some research. I found some things out. And that wasn't the first time that Draco has called me Helga, or I've called him Salazar," Alex said.  
  
"Seems as though you were further along than I was, then. I only knew that Ginny and Hermione had both called me Godric, and that I've slipped and called them Mary and Rowena," Harry said.  
  
"So that's the five then? You're Gryffindor, I'm Hufflepuff, Hermione's Ravenclaw, and Draco and Ginny are Mary and Salazar Slytherin? And you're sure that's all you know?" Alex asked.  
  
"Pretty much," Harry said.  
  
"Harry, I need to know everything that you do-there isn't much time!" Alex said.  
  
"What do you mean, there isn't much time?" Harry asked.  
  
"We have maybe a month, tops, until history tries to repeat itself. We need all the hints we can get," Alex said.  
  
"Well, Godric talked to me," Harry admitted.  
  
"But he didn't say anything of use, did he?" Alex said. Harry shook his head.  
  
"How did you know?" Harry asked her.  
  
"Helga never says anything useful, either. She says when the time is right Ill just know. So nothing else? No visions, no anything?" Alex asked.  
  
"You've had visions?" Harry asked.  
  
"Only images. A centaur. A shadow. A body. Voldemort. And the sounds-'Trust me,' the centaur says, 'I will do no wrong.' The shadow, swallowing everything, the wind, whispering 'Caminiti.' I don't even know what Caminiti is. And that's not the worst of it. The body-and someone chanting over and over, 'Mary. Mary.' It's eerie. And then the laugh. The green light, the cold, cruel laugh, the 'bow to me." Alex shivered as she finished speaking.  
  
"Caminiti is the centaur," Harry told her.  
  
"Have you met her?" Alex asked, her voice quavering.  
  
"Yeah, So have you and Malfoy," Harry said.  
  
"Harry, you've gone nuts. I've never met a centaur at all, much less the one in my dream," Alex said.  
  
"Oh, I haven't truly met her, either. But we will. I saw us meet her. She gave us a warning," Harry said.  
  
"What kind of a warning?" Alex demanded.  
  
"Voldemort. She told us to leave the body, because we would have to face Voldemort if we continued on," Harry said.  
  
"Face Voldemort? No way, we're leaving Hermione!" Alex said.  
  
"Hermione?" Harry asked.  
  
"The body. Didn't you see it? It's Hermione. And now that makes sense. If Hermione is Ravenclaw, then there's no other way," Alex said.  
  
"You mean Salazar-Malfoy-is going to force Mary-Ginny-to attack Ravenclaw-Hermione-again?" Harry asked.  
  
"It says that history will repeat itself, Harry, what did you think was going to happen, we were all going to sit around and feed flowers to bunnies?" Alex asked.  
  
"No, but I didn't think about that happening," Harry said.  
  
"You're dense. There's no way around it. It's inevitable," Alex said.  
  
"Well, we'll just have to stop the inevitable from happening, then, won't we?" Harry said.  
  
  
  
Over the next couple of days, Harry had similar conversations with both Ginny and Hermione. They both seemed frightened, especially Ginny. She was now in fear that she was going to lose control of herself and do something awful to Hermione. Harry prayed for a distraction, and luckily it came just a few days later.  
  
There was a large notice on the Bulletin Board stating that the next Hogsmeade weekend was coming up. Harry was glad for an excuse to get out of the castle. He made plans to take Ginny to lunch and then just a stroll around the village. He knew he didn't want to take Ginny to Madam Puddifoot's, though-his last trip there had been an utter disaster and he thought that the Three Broomsticks would do just fine.  
  
Ron seemed to have a similar idea, and he came up to Harry after he had seen the notice.  
  
"I want to ask Alex to go to Hogsmeade with me. What do you think-should I go for it?" Ron asked.  
  
"Erm-sure, mate," Harry said. He didn't want to hurt Ron's feelings by saying trhat Alex obviously wasn't interested in him as more than a friend. Sometimes Harry wasn't even sure that Alex wanted to be Ron's friend. He could remember more than one occasion when Alex had told him that she found Ron quite anoying. Harry was sure that if telling ROn that didn't hurt his feelings it would make him mad. He could just picture Ron blowing up at him, saying that he, Harry, was just jealous and that he didn't want Ron to steal Alex from him. Ron would have claimed that Harry wanted to keep his 'sister' all to himself, and that he didn't want Ron to be happy.  
  
"You think she'll say yes?" Ron asked.  
  
"It can't hurt to ask," Harry said, trying to sond reassuring.  
  
"All right, well, I'm going to go ask her now," Ron said, and he trotted out of the common rooms.  
  
When Ron reappeared about ten minutes later, though, he looked extremely angry and unhappy.  
  
"What happened?" Harry asked him.  
  
"She.... She....." Ron stuttered.  
  
"Did she say no, mate?" Harry asked.  
  
"Didn't ask her...." Ron said, in shock.  
  
"Then what's wrong? If she didn't say no, then why are you stuttering like a complete and total moron?" Harry asked.  
  
"She was.... It was awful!" Ron managed.  
  
"What bloody happened, Ron! Spit it out already!" Harrry demaanded.  
  
"She was snogging Malfoy," Ron stuttered in complete disgust.  
  
"She was snogging WHO?" Harry said, nearly shouting.  
  
"Malfoy," Ron repeated.  
  
"I'm hearing things, right? You didn't say Malfoy," Harry said, trying to convince himself.  
  
"Yes, Malfoy!" Ron said.  
  
"But-why?" Harry asked.  
  
"You think I know?" Ron said.  
  
"But-where? Did she see you?" Harry asked.  
  
"They were in the bloody library, for the whole world to see. But I don't think she noticed me," Ron said.  
  
"Are you sure it was Malfoy?" Harry demanded again.  
  
"Who else is a greasy little blond git like that?" Ron demanded.  
  
"Malfoy?" Harry said again.  
  
"Your sister and Malfoy," Ron confirmed.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Author Note:  
  
I just want to thank everybody, first of all for putting up with my writer's block! Second, I'd like to thank everyone for reading this fic! Lastly, though, I want to thank all of the fanfiction.net readers who reviewed and told me what they wanted to happen next. You guys definitely helped me through my writer's block! Some of you guys gave me great ideas that I wish I had thought of sooner, while others told me I should use ideas that I had already had. Whether I used your idea or not, all of your support helped me get through this chapter! We're getting close to the end, now, guys, and I hope you're ready for the rest of the ride!  
  
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	19. Somewhere Only We Know

Harry Potter and the Students of the School of the Sphinx

By Angelina Johnson

Chapter 19

Somewhere Only We Know

It was days later, and Harry and Ron had both tried to avoid Alex as inconspicuously as possible. Instead, the red-haired boy skulked around the Common Room; a dejected look on his face as he did his homework, went over Quidditch plays, or even just as he did played chess with a friend. His exact words were that his heart was crushed and he was 'scarred for life' as well as claiming that he could never face Alex again. Harry, on the other hand, had a deeper understanding of what might have been going on-or at least he hoped he did. Alex and Malfoy were part of the prophecy, after all-Helga Hufflepuff and Salazar Slytherin were inhabiting them. The fact that Ron had discovered the two snogging in the library could be some sort of sickening fulfilling of the prophecy that history would repeat itself-history had indeed mentioned that Helga Hufflepuff was one of the only soft spots in Salazar's otherwise hard heart, and it could be that alone and together, even people as strong as Alex and Malfoy had a hard time controlling the urges of the inhabitants of their mind. That was the best explanation that Harry could come up with, at least-he wasn't eager to have to wrap his mind around the fact that his sister of sorts would involve herself with someone that had always been one of the banes of Harry's existence at Hogwarts. Harry had convinced himself that this had to be the reason they had been kissing his enemy, yet he went along with Ron's silly need to avoid her. He had even gone so far as to shrug Alex off in the hallways a couple of times, telling her that he was busy and needed to catch up to Ron. The black haired boy had convinced himself that he was trying to be a supportive best friend, but he knew what he was really doing. He was afraid to confront Alex about what he had seen-he was afraid that she really did have feelings for Malfoy, and that it wasn't just the influence of the founders. After all, he vaguely remembered her saying something about Malfoy not being the person Harry thought he was-what if she seriously believed that? The only thing harder to consider was that she could be right.

Hermione and Ginny had noticed the boys behaving oddly, but had little to say about it. It was clear that neither one wanted to talk about whatever was bothering them, and Hermione was too busy still aiding the teachers to be persistent. She remained exhausted and unfocused, but the little time she did spend with her friends, she was the same Hermione, lecturing them about homework and sharing insight onto the most confusing of situations. Ginny, on the other hand, seemed curious about what was going on, and while she didn't know the extent of what had happened, she could infer from her brothers attitude that it had to do with Alex. Her assumption was confirmed by the fact that Harry seemed to be avoiding her as well, but after her consistent pestering had drawn no response from her brother or her unofficial boyfriend, she had let the subject die.

Now Harry was walking idly through the hallways, headed towards the library to get a bit of homework done. His eyes lingered on a view of an empty hut from one of the windows... Hagrid was again noticeably missing from the scene at Hogwarts castle, and Harry could only wish that wherever he was, his large friend was safe and would return back to where he belonged soon.

The half giant was not the only teacher missing from the castle, although Harry noted this on a bit more pleasant level as he spotted Julie Montgomery emerging from Professor Snape's classroom, a pile of what were presumably potions essays under her arm. She smiled brightly at Harry before heading in the opposite direction that he was going.

Harry proceeded and had nearly reached his destination when he saw that the very person he had been dreading seeing was headed in the exact direction that he was.

"Harry! Hey!" Alex said, her green eyes lighting up as she looked upwards and spotted him. Her head had been down, buried in a book as she had proceeded, and that might have given Harry a chance to bolt in the opposite direction, but it was too late for that now as he forced a smile onto his face, Alex pushing a loose strand of her brown-blond hair out of her freckled face as she focused her full attention on him. She seemed genuinely pleased to see him, causing him to feel a pang of guilt for having ignored her, but if he was lucky there was a chance she was still oblivious.

"Hey Alex," he replied lightly, still using every muscle in his face to keep his lips turned upward in a smile. A mental image popped into his mind, an image of a smirking Draco Malfoy, and he nearly scowled. "So, you heading to the library too?" he said lamely, fighting the urge to come right out and ask her what the hell she had been thinking when Ron had saw her.

Alex rolled her eyes, holding up her History of Magic books. "Why of course, Captain Obvious," she said, laughing, "Although I bet a swim in the lake would be great for my homework," she added as her gaze fell out the window, looking towards the glassy surface of the water outside where, to his own dismay, Harry could make out the distinct figure of a blond Slytherin. Finally, Harry could not contain his curiosity any longer, seeing a dreamy look on Alex's face and feeling slightly nauseated.

"What's going on with you two, anyways?" he asked her crossly, folding his arms over his chest and locking his own piercing green eyes on her far duller ones. Alex's head snapped to attention quickly, and her eyes attempted to look bewildered, but he could see the panic on her face… Clearly he had hit a nerve.

"What's going on with me and… who? I don't understand what you're talking about," Alex stuttered, seeming a bit uncomfortable as she spoke. Her normally even voice wavered doubtfully as she inadvertently avoided Harry's gaze.

"Funny, Alex… I really think you do know exactly what I'm talking about," Harry informed her, and she bit her lip as she followed Harry's eyes towards where Malfoy was. "Ron saw you two together, by the way," he added, and that really made her eyes show her horror at being discovered.

"Maybe he doesn't understand what he saw," she pointed out quickly.

"Or maybe there's nothing to understand about kissing," Harry added crossly, his arms still folded and his gaze still penetrating her. She was biting her lip so hard now that Harry was surprised that she wasn't bleeding, and he continued to look at her expectantly. "So why don't you tell me what's really going on?" Alex looked at him through her mournful eyes.

"Look, Harry… I'm sorry I didn't tell you. Or Ron-but it only would have hurt him. And I know how you feel about Draco… I didn't think you'd understand," she said awkwardly, unable to own up to his stare as she glanced down at her feet, one of which was swirling around on the hall floor, a nervous twitch or sorts.

"You're right; you know how I feel about him! Alex, he's NOT a nice guy! He never has been a nice guy, and he never will be a nice guy! You've seen the family he comes from and the kind of people he associates himself with… You've seen the way he treats me, and my friends-your friends! They're your friends too, you know-you seem awfully quick to forget that," Harry said agitatedly. Alex's upset, regretful look vanished as Harry spoke, and her eyes now seemed to be filled with a rage of sorts.

"Stop! Stop, just don't say anymore! This is exactly why I never told you before! I know who my friends are, Harry… but he's my friend now, too," Alex said slowly.

"Friend? Sounds like he's a little more than that," Harry spoke bitterly, his contempt for Malfoy showing more clearly than ever.

"Oh, honestly, STOP IT," Alex said, making a face at Harry. "You sure are a rotten excuse for a brother, Harry-I know you don't like him , and you may not understand it, but he's nice to me-he's one of the few people that has been, besides you and Ron and Hermione and Ginny. I just-you guys have all always been so close, I sometimes feel like I'm intruding… But Draco doesn't make me feel like that, doesn't make me feel like that at all. It's just-look, it's hard to explain, but he makes me feel really wanted-like he really likes me," Alex said, sighing as Harry continued to give her a harsh look.

"Make you feel wanted? Like you? Alex, he's not the only one that liked you. Maybe you're a little slow here, but Ron was crazy about you, and he's certainly not an ass like Malfoy-why couldn't you have liked him, for Christ's sake?" Harry demanded, his voice raising. She was acting so frustrating, saying that Malfoy was the only one that seemed to like her, well that was a load of tosh and she knew it.

"Ron this, Ron that-you guys don't even realize that you've been forcing him on me all this time, do you? Newsflash-Ron is a good friend. That's all! He's so… he's so boring!" Alex said flatly, glaring dangerously at Harry.

"Boring? You know, most girls would take boring over rich jerk anyways-at least Ron has a heart," Harry shot back at her. "He's my best friend-he deserves someone better than you at this rate anyways," the sixth year said crossly.

"He's not a jerk! And you don't even realize how ridiculous you're sounding… Everyone has a heart, maybe you're just too stubborn to see it!" Alex shot back angrily. "Everyone's got feelings too-even if they aren't always nice ones. You make him sound like he's some emotionless monster, and that's the last thing that I would ever call Draco Malfoy," she said firmly.

"You know what, I'm hearing you wrong-that's it, right?" Harry said, covering his ears and making a noise so that he couldn't hear anything that Alex had to say. Alex, in turn, smacked him upside the head, and hard.

"Oww, geez, Alex," Harry said, rubbing his neck where she had slapped him and staring at her, "Would you stop being so stupid?" She glared at him furiously.

"Stupid? You have no right to call me stupid, Harry Potter. You're acting like a little five year old, just covering your ears when you aren't willing to face the truth. I'm your sister, Harry-nothing's changing that now, you're stuck with me. So grow up and deal with it," Alex said.

"This isn't really you talking, is it? This is like some weird Helga version of you, talking about some psychotic version of Salazar Slytherin trapped within my biggest enemy, right?" Harry asked her quickly, jumping to some sort of conclusion. He and Alex had always gotten along royally until now, and here they were, nearly screaming at each other in the hallways. It seemed so messed up, and trust Malfoy to be at the root of something that was so infuriating.

"You are such a stupid, stubborn prat!" Alex exclaimed furiously. "Why won't you just accept that I really like him, Harry? I like him, he likes me, the end. Our whole lives don't revolve around these stupid prophecies… it's not like I'm under Helga Hufflepuff's control all the time. Occasionally, once in a while-that's how often I even notice that she's still there, still in my mind. The rest of the time it's all me, Harry-and this is all me. This is what I feel. And Draco's not Salazar Slytherin all the time either-you said it yourself, Godric told you that the three of us were far better at fighting the founders inside of us than Ginny and Hermione are. So that's how he feels, and I'm sorry if you're having a hard time accepting that." Harry only rolled his eyes at her, disgusted. Neither one stopped to realize just how lucky they were that most everyone was in classes and that their arguments hadn't drawn unwanted attention to themselves-the prophecy wasn't something that should be widespread.

"How he feels, huh? Well, you've made it clear that you know how he and I feel about each other… So, think about it. You're my sister, Alex-it's all a big façade, if you ask me. At this point, either way he wins. If he convinces you that he cares about you, he wins your heart, and he knows that'll drive me crazy. And if he hurts you, well then, that hurts me. I bet that's it, Alex-he's using you to get to me," Harry said, and it was almost making more sense to him now. At that very moment, though, he felt a tap on his shoulder, and whirled around quickly. BAM! A fist was in his face, and Harry was down on the ground. Through a swelling eye, Harry glanced up to see the angry face of Draco Malfoy. Infuriated, the grounded Harry kicked blindly, tripping Malfoy and knocking him to the ground as well. Alex was standing above them, looking infuriated.

"Harry Potter, you are an arrogant, self-centered, stupid, stubborn…" she was shouting, and Harry blocked it out, not wanting to hear any of it. Usually he was so selfless-why was he being so stupid when it came to Alex and Malfoy? He was shaken from his thoughts, though, as he noticed that Alex was now silent and a new figure had reached the three of them.

"Honestly, such a scene… I'm ashamed of all three of you," Professor McGonagall said, her lips in a thin line as her stern eyes looked down at Harry and Malfoy, still on the ground. Alex offered Harry a hand, but he refused it, scrambling to his feet as Alex helped Malfoy up. He scowled as his eyes met the Professor.

"I should think a detention is in order… honestly, shouting in the hallway, fighting, such nonsense, and it will not be tolerated in this castle. I'd have expected better of you-such trivial things," she said, still making a face in their direction.

"I shall send you all owls, informing you of when your sentence shall be," she said firmly, turning on her heel. "And if you can't manage to get along, I suggest you separate yourselves," she added before flouncing away, staring.

"This is unbelievable," Harry grumbled, averting his eyes from her retreating figure only to have his eyes fall on Draco Malfoy, smiling at Alex. Smiling? And it even looked sincere. But Harry refused to accept this, merely scowling at them furthermore.

"No, you're unbelievable, Potter," Malfoy said quietly. His voice sounded the least taunting that it had ever been when addressing Harry, and it was bewildering. Alex was standing close to Malfoy as he spoke, and she seemed to agree with his words. "You know, I'm not clueless… I know what's going on with all this prophecy stuff. I don't want to see history repeat itself… I may be proud to be in Slytherin's house, but I don't want to be him." Harry merely spat.

"And what reason have you ever given me to believe that?" he asked, rolling his eyes at the boy.

"None," Malfoy said with a cool shrug. "But things are different. You may not believe me, and I'll even agree that you have no reason to-yet. But Alex trusts me-and you should trust her," he said simply. It was all still so puzzling-Malfoy really did seem to be sticking up for Alex, and with no ounce of his usual sarcasm.

"Of course I trust Alex-although I'm thinking her judgment has been severely impaired," Harry said, although he was starting to realize, with horror, that his and Malfoy's roles seemed to be reversed. Malfoy, after all, was the one that was defending Alex, when here he had been, moments before, being cross and angry at her without even really hearing her out or seeing things firsthand.

"So you trust her… You'll learn to trust me. Believe it or not, I don't want to see this war happening."

A/N: So I guess I'll leave it here… Malfoy wants Harry to trust him? You'll just have to wait and see what happens next… Upcoming: A detention in the forest and another D.A. meeting


End file.
